The Storm
by QueenHimiko
Summary: Lina feels compelled to join the fight against Shabranigdu again when her children befriend a girl who she believes is the reincarnation of the daughter she lost. Sequel to Beneath the Portrait. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue: The Calm Before the Storm

**AN: I do not own The Slayers, I just play in the sandbox.**

 **This is a sequel to Beneath the Portrait and set in the same continuity as Jealousy, Of Cursed Lands and Cursed Lines, and What Might Have Been. If you want to read this without having read the previous work, then basically Lina and Gourry had a daughter who housed part of Shabranigdu in her soul who was killed while saving Zelgadis' life.**

* * *

Lina glanced out of the window as she washed the dishes, doing her customary scan to ensure that the children were okay. Her eyes narrowed and her body tensed as she noticed a figure approach them from the road even though she felt no malice. Still, Lina dried her hands on her apron and raced to the door, "Stay alert." She called to Gourry as she reached the doorway. It was a beautiful day so Lina had left it open to let the breeze come in, and was now happy she had as it allowed her to see that she had no need to worry. Instead, her anxieties lessened significantly as she saw it was her daughter, Attie, home from her latest adventure.

Before Lina's oldest daughter, Dianna, had died, Lina had been certain that she would have felt it if anything happened to her other daughters when they were away from home. Yet that horrible day had been so chaotic and Lina had been so stressed and worried that she couldn't even remember the moment when she had realized Dianna was dead. Perhaps it was her minds way of ensuring she move forward rather than staying stuck in the moment. Regardless, all she recalled from the day was a blur of fear, anxiety, anger, and grief.

And its legacy was her complete inability to relax completely when her remaining daughters were out of sight. If anything happened to Attie or Min, when would she learn about it? Sure, she got letters, which brought some measure of relief. They were alive at least when they were posted. But what if something happened between then and when she received them? And when would she know?

But for now, it was enough to know that if she were to ever have to relive her worst nightmare, it was not today. Attie was there, smiling broadly as she hugged Pomona while her friends stopped their game to watch. Lina moved down the porch and threw her arms around her, "You're home."

"Yes." Attie said as she wrapped an arm around her while the other one held Pomona, "It's good to see you."

"Where's Zel?" Lina asked.

"I'll explain later." Attie replied as she pulled away, "After you let me see my newest sister."

"Brother." Pomona corrected with a grin, "And just wait till you see him! He's so cute! He's inside with Daddy."

"What?" Attie exclaimed as Lina steered her inside the house while Pomona went back to her friends.

"Yeah, your father and I are still trying to wrap out heads around it. He's not even a blonde!" Lina explained with a laugh as she entered the house. And despite her flippancy, she had mixed feelings about the surprise her son had evoked.

She knew exactly what she was doing when she entered the depth of the vaults in the Sorcerer's Guild to take the fertility statue before they left Zefiel City. But she wasn't leaving without it. Even as she did it she knew it wasn't rational. Yet losing Dianna had torn such a large hole in her heart that she was desperate for any way to fill it and perhaps to get her back. She and Gourry had had four girls, who for all intents and purposes, could have been identical twins even if their personalities were different. Surely lightning would have struck a fifth time, and then they would have their daughter back.

And, if they were truly lucky, the new baby would be just like Dianna, except uninhabited by Shabranigdu.

Yet is was as if from the moment he was born he decided to make a forceful statement that he would not be the child they had lost by his looks and his gender. In many ways it was a good thing for it forced them to let go. But Lina could not deny that she mourned a little over how her firstborn was gone for good even as she celebrated his birth.

Attie's eyes widened, "Well then, now I really must see him!"

"And so you will." Gourry said as he came out of the nursery holding his son.

Attie picked him up, "Well, Mom, for once you have a child who looks like you."

Lina folded her arms across her chest, "It's about time I guess."

"What are you calling him?"

"Luke."

"I take it he's free of the passenger?" Attie asked.

Lina nodded and felt a lump form in her throat. That she was grateful that for the first time she could raise her family without having to protect her other children from Shabranigdu's rage warred with the feelings of just how deeply she missed her daughter. Not to mention how guilty she still felt that she'd been too late to save her. That she hadn't realized something was off when Dianna was called away on a mock emergency to lure her from the house, and that she hadn't left with Dianna to make sure everything was alright.

Lina turned away and threw open a cupboard and took a deep breath as she attempted to stop herself from going over all of the things she should have done, "Are you hungry?"

"Starving!" Attie replied.

Always sensitive to her moods, Gourry came up and started to rub her back as she started fixing Attie some lunch while she cooed over the baby. "Is Zel okay?" Gourry asked.

 _He'd better be considering what he cost us._ Lina thought to herself as she cut the loaf of bread with more force than necessary.

"He's fine." Attie said. "We're taking a break from each other."

That snapped through her anger. Lina turned around to look at her, "Why?"

Attie shrugged, "He wanted to get married and start a family. I didn't."

Lina and Gourry exchanged a look, "If you're worried about what we think after what happened…." Lina began.

"Is it so hard to believe that I just don't want to get married?" Attie snapped.

"No, and it's fine." Gourry said consolingly.

"I saw your cousins. Jula, Ketcher, and Nona. They have beautiful families." Attie said to change the subject.

Lina listened quietly as Gourry asked her some questions about her travels to the Elmekian Empire, and then asked as she sat a plate in front of her, "Did you visit your sister on your way here?"

"Yeah." Attie said as she handed her brother back to Gourry, who took a seat beside her, "Min and the boys are settling in great."

After they had left Zefiel City they had traveled to Saillune, where Lina decided to call on some favors with the queen she had once fought beside. And considering that Min and her husband both had excellent qualifications and experience, Queen Amelia had kindly given Min the position of Court Sorceress and made Drake Ambassador to Zefiria. While Amelia had insisted on giving Lina and Gourry positions as well, neither of them wanted to stay in the capital city. Saillune attracted too much trouble, and they felt as though they had lost enough.

So they settled in one of the outlying cities. Lina had sold the fertility statue to some healers in the temple for a large sum, enough for her and Gourry to live comfortably for some time without having to worry about work, provided they manage their resources well. Lina didn't bat an eye over having stolen it from the guild. There was no price tag on her daughter's life, so the whole city owed her a debt as she saw it. And it allowed them to still see Min and their grandsons often, though, it wasn't daily like it had been.

Attie bit her tongue a little before she continued, "I also stopped by Zefiel City."

"Did you?" Lina asked as she took a seat at the table, "How are your grandparents?"

"They're making it work there." Attie said as she dipped her bread in the stew. "And Gretelle did seek me out. She's been wracked with guilt ever since that day."

Lina's eyes narrowed, "Good."

Attie munched on her lunch for a moment, "I also talked with Aunt Luna."

"Whatever she has to say, I don't want to hear it." Lina snapped.

"Would you rather her make the trip up here then?" Attie asked as she licked her fingers.

Lina sighed, "What is it then?"

"The Mazoku know about that the walls separating Shabranigdu and his human host are growing thin. And they know about the spell to reveal those who have him in their souls."

Lina felt her heart skip, "They'd better stay away from us."

"Watch your back." Attie said as took another bite of bread.

"Always do." Lina replied as she met Gourry's eyes from across the table. He looked just as shaken as she felt.

Luna had told her when Dianna had died that events would force her back into action again. But Lina had done everything in her power to prevent it. And now, it looked like she had some new worries, far sooner than she wanted them. She and Attie were the only ones who knew the spell. What if the Mazoku sent someone after them?

Lina suddenly felt her energy leave her as the knowledge sank in that there was something on the horizon. And in her bones, she knew it was going to be bad.


	2. The Curse of the Gunginiel Knights

Even seven years after Dianna had been murdered, Lina still had a hard time sleeping as the anniversary of that wretched day drew closer and closer. She lay awake in bed beside Gourry, staring at the darkness, and thought about Dianna and all of the contradictions that thinking about Dianna wrought. That the past six years had been the most peaceful and carefree years of her life aroused feelings of ambivalence within her, as if fully embracing it meant that she didn't miss her daughter. That in some ways Dianna being murdered by the angry mob was a relief, for it spared Lina the agony of worrying over whether she ever would have to deliver the killing blow by her own hands had Dianna ever decided to merge with Shabranigdu. That in a lot of ways, Dianna being gone solved a lot of problems didn't mean that Lina would trade everything to have those problems back in her life.

She felt a familiar pressure behind her eyes as her lips started to quiver. _Damn, am I ever going to stop crying over this?_ She inhaled, and turned to wrap her arms around Gourry, burying her face in his chest as she did. She felt him startle, and wondered if she had woken him from a nightmare. But then he pulled away from her and asked, "Lina?"

Lina reached a hand out to stroke his face, "Yes?"

"What are you doing in my bed?"

Lina felt as though she'd been winded. "This is our bed, we've been married for almost forty years now."

He looked at her for a moment, and even in the darkness she could read genuine alarm in his face. Then he smiled and held her closer, "Sometimes it's still hard to believe you said yes."

Was he joking? Gourry was always joking, especially about forgetting things and people. Through the years Lina learned that he did a lot of it for laughs or to get a rise out of her. So at first she didn't think much of it when he voiced being confused or forgetting someone. But then she started realizing that there was something different about him lately. Namely, for the first time in his life he felt the need to explain away his lapses in memory, something that had never occurred before.

She put a hand on his cheek, "Gourry, I need you to tell me the truth. Did you forget we were married?"

He tried to smile but he ended up biting his lip as he stroked her hair and then put a hand on her hip. When he finally spoke he said, "Let's not worry, okay? I don't think I could ever forget you."

But Lina worried as they got up to wake the children and make breakfast, a warning Nes, Gourry's great-grandfather and golden dragon, had delivered to her a few years back echoing ominously in her mind.

"Morning Daddy," Pomona said as she waltzed out of her room and gave Gourry a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning!" Gourry replied as Pomona wrapped an arm around Lina and gave her a kiss.

"Morning," Lina said, and then she sighed, "You can have breakfast after you wash that make up off your face."

"Smells good," Pomona said as she surveyed the pancakes, "And I'd rethink that."

"You're thirteen." Lina pointed out.

"And how is my business ever going to get off the ground if I don't wear my own product?" Pomona countered, and suddenly all of those hours she'd spent holed up in her room with beakers and flasks made sense. "I already have orders from half of the girls at school."

"Yeah, well, when their mothers started complaining to me…"

"I already got their mothers to sign up too." Pomona said. Then she brought out a piece of paper and gave it to Lina, "Look, here's the cost of the supplies, here's how many orders I have. And there's my profit margin."

Lina opened her mouth to protest, but ended up closing it as she had to admit that she was impressed with her daughter's business plan. Simply put, she couldn't find fault with it. "Those are good profits."

"Thank you!" Pomona said airily as she seated herself at the table.

"What are you going to do with the money?" Gourry asked as he brought the pancakes to the table.

"I haven't decided yet." She said, "I might try traveling for a little, and before you say anything, Mom, you were thirteen when you took off."

Lina shook her head as Luke came out of his room and gave her a hug. "You've thought of everything."

"Or I might buy my own store. Or use it to fund my studies." Pomona shrugged, "Haven't made up my mind."

Lina went back to get some syrup and Gourry whispered to her, "I must say I'm a bit surprised at how well you're taking this."

"She invented the cosmetics herself and put together a good business plan. If she's old enough for that then I guess she's old enough to wear it."

"Ewww!" Pomona shrieked as she pointed at Luke, "Mom! He's wiggling his loose tooth in my face! He's grossing me out while I'm trying to eat!"

"On the other hand…" Lina sighed before she turned around to yell at them.

While she snapped at Pomona and Luke multiple times as they ate breakfast and got ready for school, neither thought anything of it. Lina was always short tempered at this time of the year. As soon as the breakfast dishes were put away and the kids ushered out the door, Lina sat down and wrote a desperate letter to Amelia, asking if there was anything they could do to return Gourry to the way he was, or at least, to halt the damage. When she finished she felt as though some of the weight was off of her chest. At least now she was doing something. Still. It seemed as if Gourry's life lay in the hands of someone who wasn't her.

When she finished she asked Gourry if he wanted to walk with her to the post office and he agreed. They walked arm and arm together as they took in the beautiful day. "You've been thinking of Di lately." He commented.

Lina nodded, and he patted her arm, "Me too."

They talked about Dianna as they walked. They quickly learned when they resettled in this little town that mentioning that they had lost a child tended to be a conversation ender. People became uncomfortable and awkward and rapidly changed the subject, as if fearful that they would hurt Lina and Gourry by bringing up the sordid affair, as if they already didn't carry it with them all of the time and as if there were moments where they forgot.

In truth, they wanted to talk about Dianna. Desperately. They wanted her life to be acknowledged. They wanted people to say her name. But since the topic was so off putting, they ended up keeping it to themselves.

* * *

"Mom!" Luke yelled as he ran into the house to hug Lina.

"Hey, kiddo." She said, "How was school?"

"Good!" he said as he went running to Gourry, leaving a little girl waiting on the porch.

Lina sighed, "At least invite your friend in."

"Oh," Luke said, looking slightly chastened, "Come in, Stella."

Lina was struck with a strange sense of recognition as the small girl walked in with her head held high. She had long black hair and the darkest eyes Lina had ever seen, and though Lina was sure she'd never met her before, she could not shake the sense of familiarity.

"This is my mom, and that's my dad." Luke said, "And this is Stella."

"Hi Stella." Lina and Gourry both said, but Lina added, "Do I know your parents?"

"We just moved." Stella explained. "This was my first day of school."

"Hm." Lina said.

"Guess what!" Luke said.

"What?" Gourry replied.

"We have the same birthday!" Luke declared.

Lina folded her arms across her chest and looked at Stella, "Really?"

Stella nodded as she listed the day, and Lina nodded, "Yeah, that's the right day. I guess you two can have a double birthday party."

"Can she stay for supper?" Luke asked.

"Do your parents know where you are?" Lina asked.

"They don't care." Stella said nonchalantly.

"I'm sure that's not true." Gourry said.

"We stopped by on our way here. Her mom said it was okay." Luke explained, and then he grinned, "I overheard Pomona tell Peggy that she's going to marry Stella's brother, Nigel."

Lina smirked, "We'll see how long that lasts. Anyway, if Stella's parents are okay with it, I'm okay with it. Now go play outside."

Lina rolled her eyes as she turned to Gourry, "I swear, Pomona is going to get married before she turns fourteen. She's Attie in reverse!"

"She's only thirteen." Gourry pointed out with a smile, "So she still can't get married. Not without your permission."

Lina's eyes narrowed, "What about yours?"

"I'll just tell her to ask you."

Lina shook her head, "And make me the bad guy!"

"Hey, I'm the nice one! Everyone knows that!"

Lina lifted her hand, but as he always did now, he intercepted it and pulled her close for a quick kiss. "It makes you fun in bed." He whispered. She laughed a little and patted him on the back, and then she started working on dinner.

About ten minutes before dinner was ready, Luke and Stella came running in the house. "Hey Luke." Gourry said, "And this is your friend, Rachel!" He proclaimed confidently.

But Lina didn't so much as bat an eye as Luke and Stella laughed. Gourry played that game with all of their children's friends where he would pretend to forget their names and then go through a rolodex of them. Once again, Gourry was playing up a dim memory for laughs. It was typical Gourry. Nothing to worry about.

Pomona came in just as they were sitting down for dinner, proudly proclaiming, "I sold ten more orders!"

"Congrats!" Gourry said.

"And there's a new boy in school today, and he's so cute!" Pomona continued as she sat down, prompting Luke to start singing, "Pomona and Nigel sitting in a tree…" In a matter of minutes Stella joined in.

"Stop that!" Pomona cried.

Lina shook her head, "You brought it on yourself!"

"They don't need to be such children about it!" Pomona protested as Luke and Stella kept singing.

"Well, that's what they are, aren't they?" Lina replied.

Luke and Stella laughed conspiratorially as they saw the rise they were getting from Pomona. Laughing and singing, Luke grabbed some milk while Stella picked up a dinner roll and struggled to cut it open with her knife, prompting Gourry to ask, "Do you need help with that, Di?"

Luke and Stella stopped singing, and Lina's head snapped up as Pomona dropped her fork and looked stricken. "Now that's right." Stella said.

But before Lina could fully process what she said, Pomona interjected, "Dad, that is not funny!"

Gourry looked at Pomona, confusion etched on his features, "Min? But how are you older…"

Lina put a hand on Pomona's arm, "This is Pomona. And that's Luke's friend, Stella."

Pomona looked at Lina, who was doing her best to keep a straight face. Gourry smiled, "Right. I was just seeing if you knew."

"But…" Pomona started, but Lina squeezed her arm and shook her head.

"Later." Lina muttered. Fortunately, Pomona let it drop. Lina exhaled, and started to study Stella. Her reaction to being called Di was completely different from being called Rachel. What was it she had said? "Yeah, that's right?" Did she say it sarcastically? Or was she serious? Lina couldn't remember! It had happened so fast!

And why would Gourry mistake Stella for Dianna anyway? Stella looked nothing like Dianna. Gourry mistaking Pomona for Min made sense as they were the only ones who cared about make up, but mistaking Stella for Dianna!?

Still, the more Lina watched her, the more it struck her that she had Dianna's mannerisms at that age. And she had been born on the same day Luke was, meaning that, like Luke, she would have been conceived at around the time Dianna died. What if Stella had the same shard of Shabranigdu within her that Dianna did? And Gourry, in his impaired mental state, had somehow detected it?

And then Lina remembered Stella's strange response to her question over whether her parents knew where she was. She stated that her parents didn't care. Lina shuddered as she remembered the time when she was ready to write Dianna off before Luna stepped in to help. Was Stella's mother similarly overwhelmed with the burdens of caring for her and keeping her other children safe from her?

Gourry looked at her inquisitively and she shook her head and told herself that she was seeing connections between random things. But then as they finished dinner and were gathering the dishes Luke asked Stella what her favorite color was and she replied, "Orange, like it gets when the sun is rising."

Lina nearly dropped the plates she was carrying as she stared at Stella in shock. How many times had Dianna talked about staying up as the sun rose while waiting for babies to be delivered and enjoying how orange the sky got?

But if that wasn't enough, Stella turned and looked at Lina and smiled sardonically. Lina started to shake. That was so characteristic of Dianna, to say something disquieting and then drink in the negative feelings her words evoked with a smile. From behind her, she felt Gourry put his hand on her shoulder. Was he thinking the same thing she was? Did Stella hold the same shard of Shabranigdu within her that Dianna did? But then, it went back to the biggest enigma surrounding Dianna. How much of Dianna was Dianna, and how much was she influenced by Shabranigdu? Considering Luke, Rezo and Dianna were all different people it didn't seem as if Shabranigdu did. But then, Luke, Rezo and Dianna all had different shards.

Or was this just the desperate hope of a grieving mother to get her child back? If that was what she even wanted. What if Stella harmed Luke or Pomona? While just this morning she had been convinced that she would do anything to have those problems back in her life if it meant having Dianna back, now when faced with it, she found herself torn between telling Luke he was to stay away from her versus encouraging the friendship so she could see Stella as often as possible.

How successful had they been in nurturing Dianna's human side? Was Stella liable to fly into uncontrollable rages if provoked? What if they'd done such a good job with Dianna that Stella was more stable than her? And what if they hadn't?

Lina bit her lip, and then said, "Stella, why don't I walk you home. It's getting late."

"Can I come?" Luke asked.

"Have you done your exercises yet?" Lina asked.

"No." Luke said, obviously torn between wanting to work on the conditioning he needed to do before Gourry would teach him swordfighting and wanting more time with Stella.

"Come on." Gourry told him consolingly. "You'll see Stella tomorrow."

"Okay." Luke agreed.

"I'll come." Pomona said.

"You just want to catch a glimpse of Nigel, don't you?" Lina teased.

But any trace of the love crazed teenager that had entered their house at supper was gone. Now Pomona looked dead serious, "I want to talk to you, actually."

Lina remembered how shaken Pomona was by Gourry's mental lapse and put a hand on her back, "Let's get going."

Stella and Luke said goodbye, and Lina left with the girls. She was unusually quiet as she listened to Pomona and Stella talk, observing that they seemed more like long parted friends reuniting than people who had just met. But then Pomona was gregarious and outgoing and tended to strike up conversations easily. Still. Pomona and Dianna had been close, despite their large age gap.

Yet it wasn't just the familiarity. On the trip back Lina learned that Dianna and Stella had the same favorite animal, favorite children's books, favorite songs. Lina kept waiting for something to come up that would loudly shout that Stella was her own person, completely different from Dianna. Yet aside from being more charming there was nothing.

Yet even the fact that Stella appeared more charming and less impulsive was reason for hope. Dianna had been born into what Luna had described as a critical regeneration cycle, where the walls between Dianna and Shabranigdu were thin. If Dianna's human side had won at the time of her death, then the human side would be stronger in the next cycle. But if Shabranigdu won, than his side would. And the question of which side was stronger at the time of Dianna's death was left in doubt. She was murdered, which gave Shabranigdu power. Yet she was also channeling the Resurrection spell to save Zelgadis and asserting her humanity, which, according to Luna, likely counted for something.

Gourry had just preferred to believe that her human side had won out. He couldn't bear to think of the alternative. That they had suffered and sacrificed for thirty years only for Shabranigdu to win. But Lina wanted more proof, something tangible. What if Stella was living proof that they had been successful?

They passed the center of town and Lina felt gooseflesh erupt as she realized where Stella was taking themHer anxiety for Stella climbed as the well tended and painted homes turned to peeling ones, and then boarded one. By the time Stella stopped to point a ramshackle shack as hers, Lina instantly realized that she would never let Luke stay there, nor would she have allowed her girls to when they were younger. And that the idea of leaving Stella there evoked similar feelings.

 _Perhaps it's not as bad on the inside,_ Lina thought as she surveyed the vile looking place. Litter was strewn across the yard and Lina was sure it was contaminated with mold and she worried that the roof would collapse in the night. She steeled herself to follow Stella in, but the girl stopped her. "You'd better not come in. Mom tends to pass out after dinner, and she's a terror if anyone wakes her."

Lina's eyes narrowed, and she resolved to have a visit with Stella's mother the next day. "I'll keep watch, make sure you get in okay."

"Thanks." Stella said with a wave, "Bye!"

Lina watched as Stella entered the house, her heart heavy. She felt as though she was watching a six-year-old Dianna walk into that place. _You're being ridiculous!_ Lina told herself. She took a deep breath and gave Pomona a weak smile, and together they headed back towards their house.

Once they had gotten some distance from the shack Pomona asked, "What's going on with Dad?"

Lina wrapped an arm around her. _This is the real problem you should be worrying about!_ She told herself, _not chasing down delusions of your dead daughter!_ "You know how he's a Gunginiel Knight, with enhanced senses and abilities?"

"Yes." Pomona said.

"A few years ago, Nes contacted me to warn me that those abilities come at a cost. He wasn't sure for a while, because so few Knights live past sixty, but everyone that has starts losing their memory. They get confused, they think they're in an earlier time, or they just forget things. And it gets worse as time goes on. Nes was hoping your father's dragon blood would protect him, but…"

"What can we do about it?" Pomona asked, her voice raised in alarm.

Lina patted her arm, "I wrote to my old friend, Queen Amelia. She was a priestess, and is a very powerful practitioner of White Magic. And surely someone in Saillune has studied how to help people keep their memories as they get older. So if there's a potion or a spell, she'd know about it. I'm waiting to hear from her."

"And if there isn't?" Pomona shot back.

"Then we'll find one." Lina said as she tried to put as much confidence in her voice as she could, "Surely if you can create a breathable foundation and lipstick that doesn't smear you can find a potion to help your father."

Pomona looked contemplative as she stared at the path ahead. They walked in silence for a moment before Lina added, "Don't tell him anything yet. He was there when Nes visited us. He knows that he could lose his memories. And he's putting on a brave face for us. So until we can do more for him, don't call attention to it."

Pomona nodded, "I won't."

"And don't say anything to Luke yet." Lina added.

"Yeah, that boy couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it."


	3. There's No Replacing What Was Lost

Stella's house looked even more pitiful in the harsh light of day. Gourry shook his head slightly as he took it in before turning to Lina questioningly, "I'm surprised this hasn't been torn down. Do people really live here?"

"This is where Stella went in last night." Lina confirmed.

Gourry shook his head in dismay as he grabbed her hand. While Lina had been expecting him to tell her she was crazy when she mentioned her suspicions, he hadn't. In fact, he'd had the same dawning hope. Granted, Lina considered, they weren't exactly objective sources by any stretch of the imagination. They were both Dianna's parents. Yet the fact that they both had wondered if there was some connection between Dianna and Stella only made her hypothesis more viable.

"What if we're right?" he asked quietly.

"Then we get to know her family very well and become the best of friends." Lina said as they came up to the house, pausing for a moment before she added, "No matter how much we don't like them."

He smiled at her as, from the house, a woman pulled back a ragged sheet that hung over the doorway, the door itself having long since gone. "Hi!" Lina said as she stared at them cautiously. Her dark hair was stringy and unwashed and her skin was pale beneath the layer of dirt that covered it. As they got closer Lina detected a strong hint of stale beer and heard the buzzing of flies.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"We heard you're new here." Lina explained, "Stella came home with our son, Luke yesterday. We thought we should get to know each other."

She looked them over as teenage boy came to join her in the doorway. "You look a little old to have such a young child."

 _Oh this is going to be hard!_ Lina thought. Fortunately Gourry answered before she did, "Luke is our miracle baby. I'm Gourry Gabriev by the way. This is my wife, Lina."

"Sylvia Danes." She said, "This is my son, Nigel."

Lina looked Nigel over and decided she couldn't fault Pomona too much for thinking he was cute, even if he was older than her (though hopefully that meant he would have no interest in her). His black hair draped over his blue eyes giving him an air of mystery that certainly would have set her guildmates aflutter back in the days, and Lina along with them. "Isn't it a school day?" Lina asked.

"Didn't feel like it today." Nigel explained.

"A boy your age needs something to keep him busy." Gourry pointed out.

"It just seems a waste when I could be earning money at an apprenticeship."

 _That's not going to happen if you don't get your butt to town to find one. Delinquent._ Lina thought.

Gourry, as usual, was kinder, "I tell you what. I'm good friends with the town's cobbler. I'm sure he'll take you on."

"Making shoes?" Nigel asked, the revulsion evident in his voice, as Sylvia looked at him with a strange wariness, and Lina started to wonder who ruled the roost.

"It brings in money." Gourry said, "I tell you what, you work to be the best shoemaker you can, and then you can stop by and I can give you some sword lessons."

Lina opened her mouth to protest. The last thing she wanted was that kid coming by the house every evening and Pomona making goo-goo eyes at him. That was how Dianna's ill-fated marriage began. Yet Gourry had a compulsion to help the wayward adolescent. And Lina had to admit, he was good at it. Kenneth had been a good husband to Dianna. Shabranigdu had been what had killed their marriage. And before the protest even left her lips, she could see Nigel brighten a bit.

"You're a swordsman?" he asked.

"Back in the day." Gourry said, "But I've kept my skills sharp."

"I'll think about it." Nigel said.

Sylvia stepped away from the door, and despite how she smelled her gait was steady, "I'd invite you in, but we're still getting settled."

Despite her words, Lina couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted them to leave. "It's alright. We won't take up too much of your time. We were wondering if it would be okay if we could have Stella over for a night. She and Luke have hit it off so well. Give you some time to get settled without having a six-year-old in your hair."

Sylvia looked at Nigel, who held her gaze. "I don't care what Stella does." She said flippantly as she looked at the ground.

"Huh?" Lina asked.

"She's always causing trouble, that one. Take her for the night, take her forever, I don't care, but don't say I didn't warn you."

And with that Sylvia turned to go back into the house, leaving Lina and Gourry on the lawn, stunned. Nigel smiled apologetically. "You'll have to excuse my mom. She's going through a hard time."

"I see." Gourry said.

"Stella got a little too aggressive at school. Another child got badly hurt. It's why we moved. Mom's still livid, you see. She'll get over it."

"We all have our bad days." Gourry replied.

"Good day to you." Nigel said as he followed Sylvia into the shack.

Lina and Gourry shared a glance, and he put his arm around her as they started to walk back to their house. "This all sounds so familiar." He said.

"Hell, if I'd not learned what was wrong with Dianna I probably would have developed a drinking problem!" Lina added.

They were quiet for a moment as Gourry scanned the horizon with a sigh, "It's going to be a long wait till sunrise."

"Yes." Lina agreed.

"I guess we should stop by Sylvester's place. Let him know about Nigel." Gourry said.

Lina shook her head, "Honestly, Gourry, must you take every delinquent under your wing?"

"Hey, if I'd not had Nes, that could have been me." Gourry explained. "Besides, look at you wanting to take Stella in."

Lina's eyes widened as Gourry leaned in to whisper teasingly in her ear, "After all these years I've rubbed off on you!"

Lina laughed as she punched him playfully on the arm, "The hell you have!"

* * *

Once again Luke had brought Stella home, and both kids were ecstatic when Lina and Gourry informed them that Stella's mother had agreed to let her stay the night. And Lina was also greatly relieved when Pomona came home and reported that her feelings for Nigel had dissipated when he decided to skip school, thus revealing himself to be devoid of ambition. Dinner passed companionably, and when bedtime came they set Stella up on the couch, telling Stella and Luke that they would wake early to watch the sunrise. Then Lina and Gourry kept a careful ear out least Stella enter Luke or Pomonas' rooms as they slept.

Not that either of them could sleep. Nerves kept both of them awake as they waited for dawn. When the time finally arrived they woke Luke and Stella and moved them to the back lawn. Luke had gone back to sleep rather quickly, but beside him Stella sat quietly, knees to chest, as she watched the stars. Lina and Gourry observed them quietly from the porch, and to them, it seemed as though the sun was taking its sweet time that morning.

Finally the first hint of orange peaked over the horizon, and Lina quietly walked to the children, muttering the spell that would reveal to them if Stella contained a fragment of Shabranigdu under her breath. Lina felt a prickling at the back of her neck and icy pit in her stomach that made her fearful that they were being watched as she chanted. The spell was not something Lina wanted anyone but her and Attie to know. If Mazokus learned it, they could easily discover which humans house Shabranigdu in their souls and attempt to resurrect him that way.

Lina shook her head. She was always paranoid when she performed the spell. It was just her overactive imagination. She finished uttering the power words, and watched in anticipation as she expected Stella's shadow to turn red and reveal her passenger. Lina waited, and waited. But Stella's shadow remained black. Stella looked behind her questioningly, her dark eyes peering out from beneath her thick, ebony bangs. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes." Lina said as she tried to keep her voice from breaking. As soon as Stella turned back around Lina started chanting again. What if she had made a mistake in casting the spell?

Lina stated the power words. Stella's shadow remained black. Lina turned to look at Gourry, who looked just as sideswiped as she felt. She put a hand over her mouth as the loss she felt since Dianna had died resurged once again, and she wondered how she could have been so stupid. So it had just been in her mind.

Gourry put a hand on the empty spot on the bench beside him, and Lina walked over to him and sat down, and he instantly wrapped an arm tightly around her, his body trembling with the same emotions she was feeling. And as Lina watched the sun rise, she wondered when she would accept completely that there was no getting back what they had lost.

* * *

"You!" Sylvia said, her words a drunken slur as she pulled back the curtain and saw who was on her doorstep. "When do I get my daughter back?"

"And good morning to you, Mrs. Danes," Xellos said as he walked uninvited into her shack.

"Bah!" Sylvia cried.

"Can it, Mother." Nigel said menacingly as he allowed a red aura to grow around him. "Good morning, Xellos."

"Morning, my lord." Xellos said as he looked around the shabby dwellings. "These hardly seem fitting for a rat."

"We needed Lina and Gourry to feel sorry for her." Nigel said dismissively, "It won't be for long. Did you get it?"

Xellos smiled, "I did, and I will implement the search immediately."

"Good." Nigel replied. "You start that, I will eliminate the sorceress."

Xellos' mouth twitched, "With all due respect, my lord, the sorceress has proven to be rather difficult to eliminate. That she needs to be killed for us to succeed is not in doubt, yet we must be prepared for a fight."

"I have it all taken care of. By this time tomorrow she won't be a problem." Nigel turned to glance at Sylvia who looked petrified, "And then you can have Stella back."


	4. Karma

Zelgadis wasn't sure what caused him to glance to the other side of the street. But if he hadn't, he never would have seen her. In fact, she was so far ahead of him and had turned a corner no sooner than he had caught a glimpse that at first he wasn't sure if it was really her or not. His heart raced, and he daringly ran through the street, narrowly avoiding the wagons and carts hurling towards him. By the time he was on the next street there was no trace of her. But as he surveyed the buildings he grinned. If it was her, he knew exactly where she would be.

Zelgadis walked into the bar, palms sweaty, and smiled. It was her. He quietly walked up to her table, "Attie."

She looked up, her blue eyes widening slightly. "Zel."

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, and then he asked, "So, do we hug or shake hands?"

"Nothing wrong with a hug." She replied as she stood up.

 _I was hoping you would say that_ , he thought as he briefly embraced her. When she pulled away she motioned for him to join her, "So how many kids are you bouncing off your knees these days?" she asked.

"None, actually." He said. "Another year, another broken relationship really."

"Unlucky in love?" she asked as she twirled her tankard in the air.

"It's hard, when you've had the adventures I have." Zelgadis mused contemplatively, "They either think I'm exaggerating to impress them or they don't believe me. Even if they've traveled and seen something of the world. And even if they do believe me, they don't understand. It's just not often that you meet extraordinary people."

"Or their children?" Attie asked before she took a sip, and it became apparent that the fact that she still had not lived up to her parents' legend still bothered her, "Anyway, is that really so important when you're living a life of domestic bliss?"

"It is to me." He said curtly, "So, what have you been up to?"

"The usual." Attie replied, "Still haven't found anyone who carries him. I have had a few near misses though."

Before he was cured, he never would have been so bold with his next question. But now, he felt like he didn't have time to wait. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"Zel…" but before she could finish, they both turned to look at the street as they heard the sounds of people screaming. They both stood up and saw a flock of people running to the north. Zelgadis and Attie raced to the door, and in the distance to the south could discern a horde of demons attacking.

"Here." Attie said as she unsheathed the Blast Sword and handed it to him. While she was about at her mother's level with the sword, like her mother, she preferred to use Black Magic. And since Zelgadis' magic was now diminished in his human form, giving him the Blast Sword made the most sense from a logistics standpoint.

"Let's go!" Zel said, and together they raced towards the demons, dodging panicking townspeople along the way.

Beside him he could hear Attie chanting the Blast Ash. She unleashed it on a demon that was gnawing at the lifeless body of a man, lying face down in the street. Zel brought his sword arm back and then thrust it forward to bisect a second demon, and then he jumped in front of Attie to slash at the burst of lethal energy a different one had lobbed at her, the heat of the spell rushing to either side of them, leaving them a little warm, but unharmed. The demon screamed, and Attie jumped from behind Zel, hurling a spell of her own at it.

"We still got it." Zelgadis commented, trying to gauge where she was with him.

"Fight now, talk later." She snapped.

"Right." Zelgadis said, and he struggled to focus on the fight and not his broken heart. Fortunately, the fact that the demons had started to launch a fierce attack on them helped.

He and Attie were slammed back to back as the demons crowded around them. As he was busy slashing and thrusting and parrying spells, he barely registered when a strange shadow fell over them. When he did he barely had time to raise his sword to bisect a large chunk of wall that a group of demons had thrown at them from a nearby rooftop. The sword bisected it, sending wooden splinters flying every which way as they rained down on them. Behind him Attie cried out.

Before Zelgadis could ask her if she was okay, he had to bring his sword before him once again to slice a barrage of energy. He could hear Attie as she barely managed to get a shield up in front of her to protect herself from the attack from her side, so whatever injuries she had must not have been too bad. Whatever relief he had was temporary as Attie commented, "These demons are unusually smart."

She had a point. While low ranking, these demons were still powerful enough to easily subdue a village without skilled magic users, even while being uncoordinated. In fact, while Zelgadis could think of the troubling times when lower demons would attack villages out of the blue, he could not think of a time when they were this organized and knew to throw everything at the two most powerful fighters.

"We've got to draw them from the town." Zelgadis whispered.

"Right." She said, and then they each silently counted to three. "DIL BRAND!"

While not powerful, the resulting explosion allowed them to kick up enough dust to give them the blanket of cover they needed to run. Spells exploded around them as they made their way south, singeing them but doing little real damage. All it took was one lucky shot, though.

As the dust cleared Zelgadis could see a large wooden splinter poking out from Attie's arm. Otherwise she seemed unhurt. "They're following us." She said.

He managed to turn to cut through the spells lobbed at them, at the expense of having to stop running. Attie stopped and pivoted, casting a Blash Ash and nabbing another one. Unfortunately, there were plenty left. "Wish I could use the Zelas Brid." She lamented, thinking about the handy, powerful spell her mother would talk about using when she had the Demons Blood Talisman that allowed her to take down multiple demons without causing a lot of collateral damage. And while Attie could handle a Dragon Slave, this close to the village, it and the people who resided within it would all be destroyed.

Zelgadis struggled to find some way out as he continued to defend against their attackers while Attie worked to pick them off one by one. If they could get between the horde and the town, then Attie could cast a Dragon Slave and all she would destroy was the hopefully uninhabited road. But how to pull it off?

His thoughts were cut off as the demons howled ominously and charged at them, the bloodlust strong. Zelgadis assumed a defensive stance as the ones toward the front jumped up to pounce. He slaughtered the first one that came at him, and then the second, but soon they were surrounded on all sides. Attie snarled as she punched one away from her. She simply didn't have time to chant. Zelgadis continued to slash, but they were pressed on all sides, and soon he felt the sharp pain of claws tearing through his flesh followed by the warm gush of blood.

Zelgadis felt his panic rise. Beside him he knew Attie was in bad shape as she struggled to fight off the demons. And then a white light appeared. _Oh great. Another problem!_ He thought, and then he recognized that someone had cast a rather strong exorcism spell. They were saved! Soon the demons disintegrated around them. Zelgadis put his hand over his injured hip to stem the flow of blood as he saw a tall, stately woman dressed in the robes of a High Priestess walking towards them from the road out of town.

As she came into view, Zelgadis was not too surprised that he recognized her. "Just in time. Thanks, Sylphiel." He said.

"Mr. Zelgadis." She acknowledged as she greeted him with a polite bow. "It is good to see you again."

After he had been cured he had been to Sairaag several times at Sylphiel's request to talk about the process of separating chimeras and it had been Sylphiel who had pulled the strings to get him his color status. While after the battle with Copy Rezo and the unpleasantness with Hellmaster Zel had been certain that Sairaag would never be rebuilt, Sylphiel had returned to the ashes of the city to prove him wrong. Sure, the city did have a reputation for being cursed and haunted, but under Sylphiel's leadership it was once again the pinnacle of sorcery research.

"The same." He said, "What are you doing this far from Sairaag?"

"I'm on my way home from attending my Uncle's funeral. I just started back today." She explained.

"Oh," Zelgadis said, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yes, he was old and ill for a while. We were expecting it."

Sylphiel's eyes fell on Attie and her mouth dropped in surprise, causing Attie to shift nervously on her feet. Zelgadis decided that the introductions were long overdue. "This is Attie the Green. Attie, this is High Priestess Sylphiel Nels Lahda."

Attie was cradling her injured arm with her good one, "I'd offer to shake hands, but…"

"Let me help." Sylphiel said as she moved forward to examine the injury while Zelgadis started to do the same with his own. "It is good to meet you. Pardon me for asking, but are you the daughter of Gourry Gabriev?"

Attie smiled, "Yeah, I know. I look just like him. So do my sisters. My brother is the weird one who looks like my mom." She winced a bit as Sylphiel's fingers probed the wound. "You're that priestess my mom's mentioned, aren't you?"

"Your father never said anything about me me?" she asked, and then after seeing the look that crossed Attie's face she added, "I'm sorry. Lina Inverse, that's your mother, right?"

"Yeah." Attie said, "And Dad's not one for telling stories. Mom on the other hand…"

Sylphiel nodded, "Of course. I just knew your father better than your mother. I'm sorry to have to tell you this will hurt."

Attie shrugged, "It's not the first time. Get it over with."

Zelgadis started his own healing spell as Sylphiel removed the splinter. Attie sat down on the ground and started a healing spell of her own, an ominous mood in the air. Sylphiel sighed as she stared into the horizon. "The last time I saw something like this…" she started.

"Was when Shabranigdu was revived." Zelgadis finished, and Attie looked at them with a start.

"You think he's been reborn?" she asked.

Zelgadis and Sylphiel nodded solemnly. Attie took a deep breath. "What's the next step?"

"I think we need to get your mother out of retirement." Zelgadis said. "She's the only one who's defeated him. Twice."

"But the spell…" Sylphiel protested.

"It's damned if you do, damned if you don't." Zelgadis said.

"Besides," Attie said, "Mom has some tricks up her sleeve. Unfortunately, I'm not the sorceress she is."

Sylphiel bit her lip and then conceded, "Not many are."

* * *

"Can we talk now?" Zelgadis asked quietly as he walked beside Attie at the rapid pace they had set for her parents' village.

Attie glanced at Sylphiel ahead of them, and then sighed as she started to talk, keeping her voice low. "Look, the reasons we broke up are still there. You want to settle down and start a family, I don't. There are feelings there, but I don't see why we should put ourselves through this when we know what the outcome will be."

Zelgadis was quiet for a moment, "I guess I thought that given time you would have changed your mind."

"I can't rest until I see that no family suffers like mine has."

Indeed, it was her same old line and reasoning. They had had this conversation dozens of times. "I was the same way, with my cure. And I let a lot of good things go because of it."

"Like Princess Amelia." Attie said without missing a beat.

"Huh?" Zel.

Attie looked at the ground. "Nothing."

"Look, I can't help but feel you're a younger version of me in some ways."

Attie laughed wryly, "Don't take such a fatherly tone with me! Look, I know what my life's purpose is. And unlike you with your cure, I don't see this as a curse. I love the work that I do. And if you want to join me in it, that would be wonderful. But that's not what you want to do, is it?"

"No." he agreed.

"Then I don't see any point in discussing this further." She concluded.

Zelgadis felt his irritation flare, and he moved up to walk with Sylphiel, thinking for the umpteenth time that this was his karma for choosing his cure over Amelia all those years ago.

* * *

Like a cat, Luna stealthily walked to the woods under the cover of the moonless night. Not that she was worried about being seen. She was the Ceiphied Knight, and anyone who challenged her right to be where she pleased was a fool. And as always since had Dianna died, on this night of the year that harbored the anniversary of her death, Luna found sleep elusive.

The trees grew thicker. Even though it had been several years, none of the townspeople went to this part of the woods anymore aside from Luna. Dianna's ghost kept them away, but Luna knew that her ghost held no real power. Eventually the forest cleared and revealed the shrine Dianna had tended and that Luna had taken over watching. Quietly she sat before it, a shrine carved from the body of a dead tree, stuffed with dolls and notes and statues of goddesses.

Seven years. Luna had given up a lot during her life, but losing Dianna had been the hardest thing. It was made harder still thanks the consequences of her death. Lina still resented her and would not speak to her, and she was fairly sure that any letter she sent would be burned. Yet Luna knew it was more than resentment. Lina wanted to lead her own life without fighting Ceiphied's battles, and she knew being close to Luna would draw her into them. And as the years passed and tending to her duties and Ceiphied's wishes did little to absolve her of her grief over losing her niece, Luna was starting to wonder if Lina might be right in some ways.

They'd given so much. And all they had in return was the continued existence of the world. It should have been enough. And in some ways it was. And in others, it wasn't.

As dawn approached Luna exited the woods and was about to start the journey back to her house when something on the horizon stopped her dead in her tracks. Charlie, one of the boys from the village, was standing with a man that Luna had never seen before. It definitely wasn't Charlie's traitorous father. Luna watched quietly as the man chanted something, and then her breath caught as she saw Charlie's shadow turn red.

 _Well isn't karma a bitch_ , she mused as she reached into her pocket as she walked over to where they were, keeping an eye on the man with Charlie. The man who wasn't really a man.

"Turn away, Knight!" he yelled as he grabbed Charlie.

"Scared of a little human, Mazoku?" she replied as she started to run, hoping she could catch him before he teleported away with the child. She caught Charlie by the arm and slashed at the Mazoku, who jumped back as he let go of the child.

"Next time!" he said as he disappeared, and Luna swore. She shouldn't have let him get away. Most likely he was informing his superior of his find.

"Dad! Mom!" Charlie cried, and Luna could see his parents running up towards them.

"What the hell are you doing, Knight?" Morris, Lina's former employee who had discovered Dianna's secret and then set the mob loose upon her that had killed her asked as his wife, Jillian, scooped Charlie up, "Taking my son in the middle of the night?"

"The strange man took me." Charlie said. "She saved me."

"Don't bother thanking me." Luna said as she folded her arms under her breasts.

"Who was he? Why would someone do this?" Jillian cried as she held Charlie tightly to her.

"Tell me, did you ever notice anything strange about Charlie?" Luna asked, enjoying the moment a bit too much. It wasn't often you got to savor karma.

Morris paled noticeably, "He's an energetic boy."

"Energetic. Hah. I guess he's able to control it better." Luna mused, "Or you're better at covering it up."

"What?" Jillian asked.

"So what did you do? Set the mob on Dianna and then go home and celebrate your role in creating one families' worse nightmare by making love to each other?"

Both Jillian and Morris flushed, "What are you implying?" Morris demanded.

"The Mazoku was testing him."

"Mazoku." Jillian breathed.

"He has a shard of Shabranigdu in his soul. When's he turning seven again?" Luna asked rhetorically, "Nine and a half months from today, isn't that right?"

"Liar!" Morris cried, "You and your sister set this up! You're trying to ruin us."

"That Mazoku is going to be back, and when he does, it will be with more Mazoku." Luna stated.

"I'm not going to listen to this. Jillian." He said as he grabbed his wife and started to direct her back to the house.

"Your only option is to let me have him until this is over."

"You're just trying to take our child to get even!" Morris yelled as he and Jillian started to walk away.

A gleam formed in Luna eyes. While the soil in the ground was a poor conductor for her willpower, she could still manage to move the earth between their feet. They cried out as they lost their balance, and Luna moved fast, disabling Morris by pinching the nerve at the base of his neck, causing him to lose consciousness. Luna considered Jillian, who had twisted her ankle in the fall.

"Please…" she begged, trembling before the knight.

"I'll keep him safe, and when this plot is over, I will return him to you." Luna promised, and then she knocked Jillian out.

"I won't go! I won't!" Charlie shrieked as he got up and started to run from her.

"Oh for goodness…" Luna spat, "Sleeping."

Charlie fell to the ground asleep, and Luna picked him up. Fortunately her parents' store wasn't too far. She should have enough time to gather some provisions and money before setting out. Luna tsked as she picked up Charlie and hauled him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "This will be so much fun to explain to Mom and Dad."


	5. The Hardest Day of the Year

Lina looked at her bed with longing as she toweled off after her bath as Gourry got dressed. She had hoped it would help her wake up. It hadn't. Between not having slept well, experiencing such a disappointment so early in the day, and the fact that it was the anniversary of Dianna's death, staying in bed and hiding from the world for the day seemed like the best thing to do. Yet the kids were out of school that day, and there was work to be done. Pomona in particular was always clingy on that day and needed her. Life went on, even without Dianna.

She threw the towel on the bed and grabbed her tunic and put it on, and then she stopped as she noticed Gourry was opening a small box that he kept around a chain that he wore around his neck. Ever since Dianna had died, she had worn an identical one. She sat beside him and wrapped an arm around him as he took out the lock of golden blonde hair within and stroked it reverently. "This is all we have of her." He managed to say before he broke down.

Lina held him tight as she cried with him as they took the time they needed to find the strength to face the hardest day of the year together.

* * *

Pomona was really getting too big to be on Lina's lap. Especially as Pomona was now taller than her petite mother. Yet somehow she had ended up resting her head there as they dozed on the couch together. When Lina heard the door open she had first assumed it was Gourry returning from a walk with Luke and Stella. But when Min walked in instead, she leapt from the couch, followed by Pomona, to embrace her. "I wasn't sure you would come." Lina said.

"Of course I came." Min said reassuringly.

Lina smiled at her, "How are Drake and the boys?"

"Drake is well," Min said as she took a seat on the couch, "Orion is off who knows where. I honestly don't know how you tolerate Attie being away for so long."

Lina smiled tiredly as she sat to Min's left while Pomona took the seat on her right, "I just figure it's karma. I did it to my parents."

"Well I didn't!" Min said.

"Yeah, aside from getting me knocked up, you never gave us a lick of trouble." Lina said as she punched Min gently on the shoulder.

"I'm not trouble!" Pomona protested.

"No, you aren't." Lina agreed as patted her knee, "Well, not too much."

"And Henry and Wally send their regards. Between studies and sports they couldn't make it down."

"Your father and I will be going up there soon I guess. We'll see them then."

"And," Min said as she pulled a letter from her pocket, "Your letter arrived as I was leaving. Queen Amelia sent this."

Lina's heart raced as she grabbed the package. Min looked at Pomona, "Does she know?"

"How could she not?" Lina snapped as she started to open it.

"That bad?" Min said.

"He was calling one of Luke's friends 'Dianna.'" Pomona explained as Lina took the letter out and read it. "Luke doesn't know, though. He just thinks that Dad is being Dad. What did Queen Amelia have to say?"

Lina's brow furrowed and she bit her lip as she read the letter and Min explained, "They can slow it down, but they can't stop it, or reverse it, so he'll stay like he is now for a few years. She sent some medicine. Hopefully it will buy him five years before things start getting bad again."

Min put a hand on Lina's arm as she noticed how she was tensing, "Are you okay?"

Lina was struggling to find the words to assure her, but the truth was, she was being dealt with more disappointments than seemed possible to bear on the worst day of the year for her. "Oh Mom." Min said as she reached out to hold her, "I should have brought this up tomorrow. Look, a lot can happen in five years. There could be a break through. It's better than nothing."

Lina nodded and finally managed to say in a hoarse voice, "Five years is better than nothing."

The door opened again, and Lina wiped her eyes as Gourry came in with Luke and Stella. Luke went running to greet Min as Gourry came up to her and asked quietly, "Are you all right?"

"Fine." She said as she grabbed his hand and got up, "Follow me."

She brought him to the kitchen, allowing the siblings time to talk alone, and pulled out the package. "I wrote to Amelia about the memory problems. She sent this. Take it. It will help."

He took the package she gave him and examined it, "It's a cure?"

"No." Lina said, "It will slow it down. It buys us time to find a cure."

He smiled at her as he wrapped his arms around her, "You always come through, don't you?"

"And don't you forget it!" She warned with a smile. Somehow she was feeling a bit better. If this took some weight off of him, then it was worth it.

Even if it did put the pressure on her to deliver once again. But she would. She always did. "Love you." She whispered.

"Love you." He said back as he brought his head down to kiss her.

"Eww!" Luke squealed, "Do you have to do that in front of us?"

* * *

Lina and Gourry spent the rest of the day talking about their memories of Dianna with their children, and Stella. While Lina had wanted to send the girl home so she would not be an interloper in their grief, given what the girl had to return to, Lina didn't have the heart to protest when Stella asked to stay the night again. Strangely, though, it had ended up being a good thing. While a lot of the adults would back away from asking questions about Dianna, Stella was intrigued. It was nice to tell her story to someone outside of the family for once.

By the time the sun had set Lina was exhausted. Min made arrangements to sleep in Pomona's room while Stella planned to spend the night on the couch again. Now that Lina and Gourry's suspicions about her having a shard of Shabranigdu within her were dashed, it seemed pointless to keep a guarded watch, but Stella insisted that she was fine on their couch.

As soon as Lina climbed into bed Gourry wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She snuggled up to him and placed her hand on his arm and shut her eyes. Soon, she was in such a deep sleep that when she woke she was so bleary she could not make sense of what was happening. Gourry was moving over her, crushing her as he yelled, "What the hell are you doing?"

Was he having a nightmare?

There was the smack of a body hitting the wall, and Gourry got off of her. "LIGHTING!" Lina called, her voice hoarse with sleep, and to her surprise she saw Stella was in the room.

"Gourry, stop." Lina said as she got off the bed. Gourry cried as she threw herself between Gourry and Stella, meaning to stop him before he hurt the girl in his confused state.

Behind her she heard Gourry fall. Had she really been that rough with him? Considering how much taller he was than her it was a feat for her to accomplish, but before she could check on him she noticed that Stella was holding a bloodstained knife! Before Lina could react the child had driven it deeply into her stomach. Shock seeped through Lina's brain, and she felt oddly detached as the weapon tore through her guts. Somehow, she did not feel the pain, though she was aware at some level of the blood pouring from her.

Stella pulled the knife out of her as Lina fell to her knees, and Lina realized that if she didn't do something she would be stabbed again. But rather than defending herself her hands went to clutch at her wounded stomach as she felt paralyzed. A child? How was she supposed to fight a child?

She fell to the ground, and Gourry grabbed her and managed to roll over her as their bedroom door shot open. "What's wrong?" Min asked as Gourry cried out as his body tensed over hers. Had Stella stabbed him? How bad was it?

"What the hell?" Pomona cried as Lina heard the sickening sound of a knife being pulled out of a body, and then thrusted back in. Only this time Gourry relaxed.

Lina wanted to yell at Pomona to not come in, to grab Luke and run, but as it was her throat was filling with blood as above her Gourry pressed against her, as if he wasn't even trying to keep his weight off of her as he shielded her, crushing the air from her lungs and making it difficult for her to take more in.

"Stop!" Min yelled, "SLEEPING!"

Lina still couldn't see what was happening, but things were sounding fainter as she heard Min order Pomona to tie Stella up. Suddenly Gourry was rolled off of her, and she could see Pomona tying up a sleeping Stella while Luke stood in the doorway crying as Min hovered over Gourry, looking between them both, a rising panic in her face. "I-I can only do Resurrection on one of them." She stated, a note of hysteria in her voice.

"Which one is in worst shape?" Pomona asked, her voice shaking.

Min's bloodstained hands clasped in fists as she stepped back and started crying, "Dad, but I don't think Mom will survive long enough if I don't cast it now, but he definitely won't…I don't know who…Which one do I…"

 _Him_. Lina thought as the world went dark. _He needs it first._

* * *

"I hope your parents won't mind us dropping by so late." Sylphiel said.

"They're used to me coming in at odd hours." Attie said nonchalantly, "Though, usually alone. Besides, given the situation, they'll be glad we woke them."

"I still hate to intrude…" Sylphiel's voice trailed off as she stared at the cottage up ahead. "Something doesn't feel right."

Attie shivered, and Zelgadis felt knots form in his stomach as the bloodlust hit them. "If Shabranigdu has been reborn, then the most logical thing to do would be to kill the people who destroyed him the last two times." He said in a loud whisper.

Attie took off, and Zelgadis charged after her. She'd forgotten to give him the sword, and given the enemies that likely awaited them in the cottage he was feeling particularly nervous without it. "Attie, the sword."

Was he a cad? She shot back, "Later!"

She practically flew up the stairs and grabbed the handle. Locked. "DAMU BRASS!"

The wall collapsed. Under normal circumstances Zelgadis would be making some sort of quip about not wanting to be there when Lina and Gourry confronted her over the damage to their home, but it was quickly apparent that these were not normal circumstances and that Attie had not acted rashly. Luke was standing in the living room crying while a young girl slept on the couch. For some reason, she was tied up. From the bedroom he could hear Min crying hysterically, "Which one…I can't choose, which one…"

"Min, please, calm down, please…" he could hear Pomona's pleas and noted that her voice was also rising in pitch.

Zelgadis followed Attie into the bedroom, which was now slick with blood. He backed away to let Sylphiel through as he saw Lina and Gourry on the floor, both of them unconscious. Lina looked as though she had been stabbed once, but as it was a grievous stomach wound, it could very well be lethal. The swordsman appeared to have several stab wounds.

"I can help." Sylphiel said quietly, arrestingly as she walked up to Min, "You can perform Resurrection?"

"Y-yes." Min said shakily.

"Then you don't have to choose." Sylphiel said firmly. "Go to your father, I'll take care of your mother."

"Thank you." Min said as she took a deep breath and knelt down beside Gourry while Sylphiel knelt by Lina. Soon the two were chanting in unison as a white glow surrounded both of their bodies.

"Where's the bastard that did this?" Attie demanded, "I didn't see anyone leave!"

Pomona wiped her eyes and pointed at the girl sleeping on the couch. That took the wind out of Attie's sails, "What are you talking about?"

But then Zelgadis noticed that the child was covered in blood. Something about this was feeling very familiar. "Just a minute." Zelgadis said as he approached the girl.

Luke's crying seemed to intensify, and Attie walked up to him and, even though he was getting too big, picked him up and cuddled the boy to her. Zelgadis studied the girl. There was something about the thickness of her bangs that drew his attention. He brushed them back and nodded grimly as he saw a red ruby on her head. "Someone is controlling her."

"What?" Attie asked.

Zelgadis chanted a spell and removed the ruby and crushed it. "I've seen this before. Someone has to be close by the house to control her."

"Pomona, stay with Luke." Attie barked as she sat Luke down.

Shaking, Pomona withdrew from her parents' room as Attie went into Pomona's room, overturned the bed and drew back the curtains, "Clear. Stay in here with Luke. Do not come out until I tell you."

Pomona nodded, and Attie glanced at Zel, "Here." She said as she handed him the sword.

Attie rushed into Luke's room next, while Zelgadis raced outside, chanted a light spell and then he searched the parameter of the cottage, the bushes, under the porch. If anyone had been there, they had left. Soon Attie had joined him. "They must have fled when we came in." he said, indicating a window, "That's your parents' room. He could have been in the back watching through here. We never would have seen him."

"LEVITATION!" Attie called as she flew up to the roof. After a few minutes she came back down. "Nothing."

Zelgadis watched her closely as she looked in the direction of her parents' room, her expression unreadable in the dark. Zelgadis put a hand on her shoulder. "They're in good hands."

She nodded and took a deep breath. "Let's go back in."

And then she grabbed his hand as they started towards the house. Zelgadis felt his heart fly into his throat. Well, she had said the feelings were still there. It was good to know it was true, even if she didn't want to act on them.

Quietly they entered the house. He could hear Min and Sylphiel from the bedroom, still chanting in unison. The door to Pomona's room opened and he could see her looking out nervously. "It's clear." Attie said, "Whoever did this fled."

Pomona ran out and hugged Attie, and was followed by Luke. Zelgadis quietly walked into Lina and Gourry's room. Lina, it seemed, was starting to pinken with life. Gourry was another matter, something that did not appear lost on Min, whose tears of fear and frustration were falling down her face even as she chanted.


	6. A Shift in Perspective

_"I never realized how much you would miss me." Said Dianna from behind Lina._

 _"_ _Then you're more of an idiot than I ever gave you credit for." Lina snapped. It was strange. She had nearly died several times in her life, but she had never floated outside her body like she was now. Calmly she watched as Min and Sylphiel performed healing spells on her and Gourry, never once daring to look behind her._

 _And not because was what behind her scared her. No, she was scared that if she did she would never again move forward._

 _There was the sound of laughter, followed by the words, "Well, if you're describing me with the i-word, then I know you really love me."_

 _"Did we do that bad of a job at showing it?" Gourry asked from beside her._

 _"No. But carrying something so negative around at all times corrupted how I saw the world."_

 _"I can understand that. And I never carried with me what you did."_

 _"Then you can understand that the world still needs you. And so do your other children. More than I do."_

 _"Yes." Lina agreed. "I still wish I could take you with me."_

 _"You already do."_

* * *

The world was blurry and filled with shadow people as Lina's eyes opened, and this time she was back in her body. Curious. She had been comatose for weeks after she had given birth to Dianna. How come she hadn't floated above her body then? Was she just hallucinating? She looked over to where Min was chanting over Gourry, but he was still unconscious. She reached her hand out to touch him, and chidingly whispered, "You silly fool…"

"Hush, stay still." Sylphiel directed as Pomona and Luke rushed to her side upon seeing that she was stirring, hounding her with questions.

"Stay back," Attie said as she put a hand on their shoulders, "She needs space and rest, but she'll be okay."

"What about Daddy?" Luke asked.

Attie squeezed his shoulder, "It will be fine."

Lina smiled at them, hoping it would reassure them that she was okay, and then she turned her head back to look at Gourry, her anxiety picking up a bit as she realized just how poorly he still seemed to be fairing. She watched, her breath in her throat. "You need to help Min save him." Lina told Sylphiel.

Sylphiel looked across at Gourry and Min, and then stopped chanting. She instructed Lina, "Continue to lie still. Try not to talk."

And then she got up and walked over to Gourry's other side and started chanting with Min. Lina felt her stomach tense as she laid in a pool of their blood, but damned if she was going to ask to be moved somewhere clean and comfortable while Gourry fought for life. After what seemed like ages, Gourry finally started to stir. Everyone in the room seemed to exhale in relief as he opened his eyes, "Lina?" he asked. "You're okay."

"Idiot!" Lina exclaimed, "It was you we were worried about!"

He thought for a moment, and then he smiled smugly. "Oh."

"Oh?" Lina said, "Is that all you have to say for yourself!?"

"It's not every day I get to take the spotlight from you!" he said.

Lina stammered and Attie laughed, "Something tells me they're going to be just fine."

* * *

"Damn!" Nigel swore as punched his fist through an old, garbled tree. "I almost had them! If we'd not been interrupted…"

"Lina Inverse is the younger sister to the Ceiphied Knight." Xellos explained cautiously. He was skimming the border of disobedience. The only thing allowing him to be so forward was that in this form, Nigel was not fully Shabranigdu, even though the walls separating the two were thin. It allowed him only the smallest of leeways to be open with his thoughts. "The environment of the womb fortified her with blessings and luck that most humans lack."

"She's still just human!" Nigel bellowed, "Another seventh has been found. Once we find the other two it won't matter."

"Do not underestimate her." Xellos cautioned, "It's been the downfall of too many powerful Mazoku."

"But not yours." Nigel said thoughtfully.

"Which is why Lina Inverse and I are both still alive." he stated, but he already knew where Nigel was heading. It was no surprise to him when he spoke.

"That makes you the perfect one to kill her."

Xellos stared at him, being careful to keep his emotions in check, "It will take time. First I will have to separate her from the rest of the group."

"You have a week." Nigel said. "And destroy that shack I've been living in. I will check out that lead in Atlas City."

"Yes, my lord."

* * *

Lina watched as the water mixed with the blood as it pooled around the drain of their covered back patio. Quietly she poured another bucket of water over Gourry's head, noting that he was still shaking, though not as badly as he had been. She put a gentle hand on his back, and then she grabbed the shampoo and started to work it into his hair. "So, Shabranigdu. Again."

"Zel and Sylphiel could be wrong." He said.

"Not likely. After the attack tonight, it makes too much sense."

Gourry turned his head a bit to glance at her over his shoulder, "How do you feel about all this?"

Lina bit her lip as she thought, "I guess it was too much to ask for the Kouma War to be put on hold until we were good and dead."

"But after Di died…"

She poured another bucket of water on his head, relieved that it finally ran clear. "What else is there to do?" she asked, though she did not state what she truly felt. Because in some ways it was confusing. Since Dianna had died a sense of rage at the world had been her constant companion. And then there was the feeling of thanklessness. No matter how many times she'd saved the world, no matter what the sacrifices, it was never enough. Add to it that since she'd learned about Dianna's curse she'd felt used and toyed with, it was strange that for the first time in years she wasn't feeling those emotion. While in some ways it was a relief not to carry them anymore, it bothered her because she felt like she should feel them. She looked within herself for the consuming anger once more, but gave up. It wasn't there.

Finally she added, "We have other children to preserve this world for. Switch."

He got up, and she sat on the stool and filled the bucket with a water spell, which he then picked up and doused her with. As she watched the blood and water swirl around the drain, she thought of floating outside her body with Gourry. And suddenly it made sense. The idea that Dianna was okay somewhere was so comforting and healing that it allowed her, for the first time since Dianna had died, to feel some sense of peace. And in that moment, Lina realized that she was never going to ask Gourry if he remembered floating outside of his body with her. If it was just a hallucination, she didn't want to know. It was true for her. And asking Gourry and finding that he had no idea what she was talking about would destroy that truth.

He grabbed the shampoo and started lathering her hair. "So I guess that means we're coming out of retirement."

Lina smiled a little, "I guess we've extended this vacation as long as we can."

"Well, it was nice while it lasted."

* * *

"Do you think Dad will be okay?" Attie asked Min as they sat together with Pomona and Luke on the porch steps while Zelgadis watched them from the door. Sylphiel stayed inside, watching over a sleeping Stella

"He's awake, he got through the worst of it, why wouldn't he be?" Min replied as Luke slept while leaning against her shoulder.

"He was shaking so bad." Pomona said in a whisper.

"Oh." Min said, not perturbed in the least, "He was probably remembering."

"Remembering?" Attie asked.

Min sighed in exasperation, "Let me guess. Neither of you read the family history volume I compiled."

"No." Attie and Pomona said at the same time.

"I should say nothing, then, and keep you two in the dark." Min relied haughtily.

"If you tell us we promise we'll read it." Pomona pleaded.

"No, you won't." Min said as she folded her arms under her chest.

"After all that happened tonight…" Pomona started, and Min huffed.

"Fine. When Dad was a little boy he walked in on his father slitting the throats of his grandmother and aunt and uncle to get the Sword of Light. So after waking in the dead of night and seeing a little girl attempt to slit Mom's throat in her sleep, it probably woke up some bad memories."

"Dad told you that?" Attie asked in astonishment as Zel's eyebrows hit his hairline.

"No," Min said with emphasized patience, "Aunt Adena did."

"Wow." Pomona whispered.

"And here I thought your book was a tired of rendition of all the noble battles the Gabrievs have fought." Attie said.

"I was writing a family history, not a hagiography." Min defended. "Even the unsavory bits were kept in. And there's plenty from Dad's side of the family."

"What's a hagiography?" Attie asked as Pomona said, "I might actually have to read it, then."

"This isn't some dime novel that I wrote to fulfil some base need for scintillation!" Min cried, "This is our history!"

"Yes, and we just learned that our history is a lot more interesting than we ever thought!" Attie said as she wrapped an arm around her.

Sylphiel came to the door then and said, "Your parents are out of the bath. We're ready to wake Stella."

Zelgadis stood by the door as the Gabriev siblings filed in, and then followed them inside and closed the door behind them. Lina and Gourry were standing over Stella, looking a lot more composed than they had been as their children gathered around them. Sylphiel knelt over Stella and chanted a counter sleeping spell.

The girl's eyes sprang open, and then filled with tears as she dissolved into inconsolable sobs. "There now, look, Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry are okay. No one is mad at you." Sylphiel said comfortingly as she put a hand on her back.

But Stella continued to heave massive sobs as she started to cry for her mother. Attie folded her arms and looked annoyed, and Zelgadis could tell she was wondering, like he was, if Stella was putting on a show. Gourry and Sylphiel looked more sympathetic, while Lina's face betrayed nothing of what she felt as she kept her hands on Luke's shoulders. Min was similarly unreadable.

"Stella, please, we need to know who is behind this." Sylphiel said.

"I can't!" Stella cried, "He'll hurt my mother!"

"We won't let anyone hurt your mother." Sylphiel stated.

Stella shook her head, "You don't understand! He's powerful! Other humans aren't like him! And he gets so mad and rages and we've had to pick up and move so many times because of him, and there's nothing you can do…"

"Damn." Lina swore as Zelgadis felt that Stella at least knew who housed Shabranigdu.

"Do you think…?" Gourry asked her.

"Nigel." Lina stated, "He has a bad person living in his soul, doesn't he?"

Stella cried harder, "Don't tell him I told you!"

"Damn, we got the wrong sibling." Lina said as Luke looked at her with an expression of fear on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Pomona asked.

"We thought Stella had a shard of Shabranigdu in her." Lina explained, "It was her brother. I bet he set it all up to get us to take her in and everything."

"What do we do now?" Gourry asked.

Lina looked at the group, "Gourry, Attie, and Min, with me. We're going to visit Stella's home. Everyone else, stay here, protect the children."

* * *

"Something is burning." Gourry commented.

Lina shook her head incredulously as she reflected, _his memory be going, but his senses are as sharp as ever!_

And as they drew closer to Stella's house the evidence of fire became more concrete as the movement of dark clouds against the stars became apparent and the smell of burning wood and even flesh hit the air. A sinking feeling grew in Lina's stomach as they came up to the charred remains of the shack, where townspeople were mulling around, after having doused the house.

"What happened?" Gourry asked as he noticed his friend, Sylvester, in the crowd.

"'Bout a few hours back I was going to the outhouse and I noticed the flames. I started waking the town, got here as fast as I could, but we were mostly too late. Only body we've recovered is the mother's." Sylvester indicated where the charred remains of a body lay beside the smoldering wood.

Tepidly, Attie walked up to check out the house as Lina said quietly, "The little girl is safe at our house."

Sylvester relaxed a little as he yelled, "Call off the search for the girl! She's safe." Several people uttered exclamations of relief as he turned to Lina and Gourry and lowered his voice a little, "You haven't seen the boy, have you?"

"No." Lina said as she stared at Sylvia's remains and felt a chill run through her. "And I wouldn't look through the house too thoroughly. Things that Stella was telling me make me think he did this."

"What?" Sylvester breathed, alarmed.

"He's likely half way to the nearest town by now." Lina said. "I would advise against tracking him down."

Lina noticed Attie leaving the remains of the shack with a bundle of papers in her arms. Even in the dark they looked so blackened that Lina wondered what could be gained from retrieving them. She looked at Sylvia again, and reflected that Sylvia was likely killed before the house was even lit. She couldn't say they'd never feared Dianna would have killed them in their sleep. It was why they had taken the seemingly barbaric action of locking her into her room every night. But given Dianna's passenger, they couldn't risk letting her wander at night. Especially given that they had other children to protect. And everyone needs to sleep.

While it had always been a fear with Dianna, Lina had still never believed that it would truly come to pass. Lina suddenly wondered about Stella and Nigels' father. Was he still alive? Had he also been killed by his son? She felt Gourry come up behind her and wrap an arm around her, which she patted.

She wondered if Sylvia had found carrying Nigel as painful as she had Dianna. She wondered if Sylvia had nearly died bringing Nigel into the world like she had with Dianna. Given that Lina would have been someone Shabranigdu wanted dead, they were never sure if he tried to make Lina's pregnancy and birth lethal to target her or if every woman who carried a child with Shabranigdu in their soul suffered as she had.

She suddenly found herself mourning for a friendship she would never have. No one else Lina knew realized what it was like to carry, care for, and love a child who harbored something so evil that it could force that child to kill her. While there was not much Lina could do now, she found herself pleading with whoever would listen that Sylvia had been asleep and unaware of what was happening when Nigel killed her, and that her last memories weren't those of being killed by a son she had sacrificed so much for.

How much had Sylvia understood about Nigel's condition? Had she blamed herself? Wondered if she was the world's worst mother? Trembled over Stella in fear of what Nigel would do to her? Lina felt herself shiver again.

When they first learned why Dianna was the way she was, Luna had explained that they were at a critical part in the reincarnation cycle, where the walls between Shabranigdu and his human host were thin. She explained that if Dianna was raised to embrace her humanity, then the human side would come out stronger than Shabranigdu's in the next incarnation. Yet if the Mazoku side won, Shabranigdu would rule.

Had Nigel been an incarnation where Shabranigdu was stronger? Or had he been at that same critical juncture that Dianna had been? But his parents, unprepared and unsupported through such a burden, weren't able to encourage his human side like Lina and Gourry were?

Either way, seeing the tragedy played out seemed to emphasize the importance of what she and Gourry had been tasked with. And, for the first time, she saw the wisdom in what Ceiphied had done when he cursed Dianna, and not the cruelty.

Shabranigdu's soul was going to haunt some human host regardless. Why not minimize the damage by placing him with a family that could fight him?

"You ready to go home?" Gourry asked quietly.

Lina nodded, but didn't trust herself to speak. She grabbed his hand as she tore her gaze from Sylvia and faced home. For a while she and Gourry were quiet as Min and Attie trailed behind them. But then Min said quietly, "It really puts some things into perspective."

"What do you mean?" Gourry asked.

"With Dianna." Min said, "It could have been a whole lot worse."

* * *

The house was pleasantly quiet when they got home. Sylphiel, Zel and Pomona had stayed up, but Luke and Stella had gone on to bed. At least they wouldn't have to break the news about her mother until later.

"Nigel burned the house down with his mother in it." Lina reported stoically to those gathered, "He's likely far from here by now."

"Any clue where he's going?" Zel asked.

Lina shrugged, "If we're lucky Stella might have an idea. But I doubt it."

"Wait." Attie said as she put the blackened paper on the table, "I found these in the house. They're rather charred, but we may be able to salvage something."

Attie opened the bundle, but for the most part it fell to ash around her fingers as she tried to pry through the pages. Towards the center, though, they finally found some yellowish scraps. A sentence here. A part of a map there. But not enough to really get any information from, until they recovered a page that contained a map of Lyzeille with a red X around Atlas City.

"You know," Lina said contemplatively as she stared at it and her instincts started screaming at her to check it out, "I think you may have given us our starting point, Attie."

"You think we should go there?" Gourry asked.

"It's the only lead we have." Lina replied. "My best guess is that he thinks there's another person who carries Shabranigdu there."

"You're going to deduce all of this from looking at a map that barely survived a fire?" Zelgadis asked skeptically.

"Never underestimate her instincts." Gourry countered.

Zelgadis smiled a little, "You have a point there."

"So, we're up to our necks in trouble again." Gourry said as he put an arm around Lina.

"No other choice." Lina said, still surprised at how well she was accepting this detour. After Dianna had died she had sworn never to do Ceiphied's work for him again. But now that she was faced with it, she found she felt an enthusiasm she'd never expected to. "And after seeing what happened to Sylvia and Stella, I don't even want to sit this out anymore."

Gourry kissed the crown of her head. No one had to ask him what he would do. As always, it was understood that he would be by her side.

"Looks like I'm coming too." Zelgadis said. "I did help you all that one time. Though, I'm not the sorcerer I used to be."

Lina looked over at Min, "Good thing we have Min."

Min looked less certain as Lina added, "She can perform Chaos Magic, too."

"Really?" Sylphiel asked, obviously surprised.

"Min is a jack of all trades." Lina explained, "Resurrection, Dragon Slave, Ra Tilt, and even the spells my team and I expanded on when researching Chaos Magic. She can't do the stuff that requires amplification like the Zelas Brid and Ragna Blade, but then, neither can I with my talisman destroyed."

"Unfortunately I'm not one to keep my head in an emergency." Min said morosely, "As we saw tonight."

"You did well enough on that day." Zelgadis pointed out.

Min shuddered, "Not well enough to see everyone out alive."

"At least all you need is to believe in yourself a bit more," Attie said, "I tried Chaos Magic but couldn't handle it."

"We're still going to need you, Min." Lina stated.

Min took a deep breath, "Yes, you will. At least my boys are old enough I don't have to worry about them too much. Hopefully they'll be safe in Saillune."

"Well, and if we don't stop Shabranigdu, they won't be safe anywhere." Zelgadis pointed out. Min nodded grimly.

"Which leads to what to do with Luke and Pomona." Lina said as she glanced at her youngest daughter.

"I've been thinking," Pomona said quietly, "I'm not a fighter, and I'm really not good with spell casting. But learning about people who get older and lose their memories, well, if I can formulate a lipstick that doesn't smear and breathable foundation, then I can create a potion that keeps people from losing their memories, or even restore them. But I'd need to find someone in a place like Saillune who can train me in medicine and potions, wouldn't I?"

Lina felt her lip tremble and her heart swell and she walked over and gave her a hug and kissed the crown of her head. "I am so glad that we had you." She whispered.

"But no pressure, right?" Pomona said with a laugh as she punched Lina on the shoulder.

"If we get you to Queen Amelia, she'll be able to write letters of introduction to whoever you need, and that will likely get you in with whomever you need." Min said.

Pomona nodded, "And I can keep an eye on Luke."

"I guess it's time to see if he has any talent in sorcery." Lina agreed. "We should take Stella with us, orphanages are miserable places, but perhaps if she's lucky Amelia or someone else will sponsor her for training."

"I bet Amelia would." Min said.

Lina looked outside, and noted that they had a few hours still before daylight. "Rest until dawn. We can make it to Saillune by this afternoon, and then, we make with all due haste to Atlas City."


	7. Separation

**AN: I'd forgotten that in "What Might Have Been", Phil and Naga had died and I'd made Amelia queen, so I have corrected the continuity from here on out.**

* * *

Luna desperately wanted to get a sense of whether Charlie's human side was stronger than Shabranigdu's Mazoku one. Yet every time the boy woke up he threw such a fuss that Luna had to render him unconscious again so she could continue to travel with him. Luna was not used to bearing resentments, but as she hoisted the child on her back, she seemed to be burdened down with them. She must have done a good job of hiding it, though, if the sweet smiles bestowed upon them by random strangers they passed and comments of how traveling wears out even the most energetic of little boys were anything to go by.

When the sun reached its zenith, Luna set Charlie down and started rummaging through her hastily packed lunch sack. Eventually she was going to have to keep the boy awake long enough for him to eat, but she had a suspicion that Charlie would not make that easy. Given that Dianna had to struggle to trust her over the voice of her passenger telling her not to, Luna had no doubt that Shabranigdu would do everything in his power to influence Charlie to run from her. And given that she had kidnapped Charlie, it gave her a disadvantage with him she had not had with Dianna.

As Luna fumbled with the sack she heard the crunch of a foot on a stick, and turned to find that Charlie had gotten up and was running. "Damn." Luna spat as she got up and charged after him.

Just when Luna thought her luck couldn't get any worse, a Mazoku appeared in front of Charlie. Charlie screamed as turned to run back around to her as Luna unsheathed her sword, but the Mazoku grabbed his arm and started to pull him to the astral plane. Luna jumped and swiped, severing the Mazoku's arm, causing him to let go of Charlie as another Mazoku appeared. Luna put one hand protectively around Charlie as the first Mazoku retreated back to the astral plane. Luna stared down the second one, "Do you really want to try it?" she asked.

The other Mazoku sneered and retreated. Luna sighed. As the attack subsided, Luna was troubled by the ease with which she had defended herself and Charlie. She would have thought they would have tried harder. And while she knew better than to sneer at favors, she wondered if she was being led into a trap. For now, though, there was little she could do about it as she turned to consider Charlie. "Are you going to stay with me without a fuss now?"

The boy nodded, and thankfully it appeared as though the prospect of going with the Mazokus was scarier than being with her. "Yes."

"They are why I have to do this. Trust me, this is not my idea of fun. I'll be glad when I can drop you on your parents' doorstep."

"When can I go home?" he asked.

"As soon as this is over." Luna said, as she cheered at least at the thought of finally being able to test him, "In the meantime, let's eat."

* * *

"Don't you worry, we'll take good care of them." Amelia said as she sat with Lina on the couch in Min's apartments as Pomona and Luke got settled into the guest room.

Lina smiled wryly, "Do you ever stop worrying about your sons?"

Amelia patted her on the arm, "You have bigger things to worry about. Look, I know just the family to apprentice Pomona to. There's an apothecary who can help her, and Mr. Gourry. She's an older, married woman who has two sons."

"How old?" Lina asked warily.

"Well I guess she's in her fifties…"

"No, the boys." Lina said.

Amelia laughed, "Huh?"

Lina shook her head, "Pomona's so boy crazy I'm afraid she'll wind up pregnant before she's fifteen."

"Oh," Amelia said, "Well, while I can offer the best protection from Mazokus, I'm afraid there's not much I can do to protect against stupid romantic decisions and heart break."

"We're doomed." Lina said dryly, though she smiled a little bit wistfully, "Just check in with her. It's hard to develop feelings for someone when your mother isn't there to talk to. And I least I made that choice for it to be that way."

"I didn't have that choice, and I will check in on her," Amelia promised, "And we'll keep a close eye on Luke and Stella. They'll have bodyguard and they'll stay in the palace, it's likely the safest place for them."

Lina nodded as she reflected that the palace tended to be a magnet for intrigue and assassins. While it had gotten better under Amelia's reign, Lina could not stop worrying that she was leaving her children in a lion's den. But where else could they leave them? Amelia smiled wistfully, "I wish I could go with you."

"What's stopping you?" Lina asked, "We need every strong person we can muster."

"My duties for one." Amelia said, "Besides. I think I would just complicate things further with Zel and Attie. I don't want to be the other woman."

"Last I heard from Attie, nothing is going on between them." Lina said.

"That's a lie." Amelia stated knowingly.

Lina chuckled a bit, "Well, I guess you must feel good about our odds if you're going to let being the other women keep you out of the thick of things."

"Justice will triumph." Amelia said confidently as Gourry emerged from the guest room with Min, Attie, Pomona and Luke.

"It's getting to be that time." Gourry said.

Amelia stood up, noticing how tired the family looked and reflected that the kids were likely to crash as soon as everyone left, "I'll give you some time to say goodbye."

"Thank you." Lina said.

Amelia left and walked to her own quarters where Sylphiel was seated with Zelgadis in her office. "Stella is settled in the west wing. She has a guard put on her. I don't think it will be needed, but we can't be too cautious." Zelgadis explained as Amelia walked in.

Amelia sat down beside Sylphiel as a silence descended upon the group for a moment. Then Amelia said, "Who would have thought we'd end up here?"

"Well, when Lina is involved, nothing is predictable." Zelgadis said.

"That's not quite true." Sylphiel snapped, and then she looked a little chastened.

"Huh?" Amelia said.

"I'm sorry. I knew they were going to end up together. Still, it was a bit of a shock meeting Attie."

"Are you going to be okay traveling with them?" Zelgadis asked, and Amelia could read his tone of how they didn't need interpersonal drama distracting everyone from their mission.

"I'm an adult. I can handle it. Besides, it was a long time ago. I've moved on for the most part." Sylphiel said. "It's just that seeing their children made me wonder what if, but that's starting to fade now."

"I guess I can understand that." Zelgadis said as he stared at the floor as his demeanor softened, remembering his own thoughts of what if when he first laid eyes on Amelia's sons.

"Everyone ready?" Min asked briskly as she strode into the office, followed by the rest of her family.

"Yes," Zelgadis said as everyone stood up, "The sooner we get on the road, the better."

* * *

Lina walked ahead with Attie and Min while Sylphiel walked a little behind them as she observed them thoughtfully. Meanwhile, Zelgadis studied Gourry, whose face would turn from calm to stormy in seconds depending on whether his wife or one of his daughters was watching. He'd first noticed Gourry's ability to project ease and confidence waver back in the days when Gaav had tried to kill Lina. The carefree demeanor he'd work so hard to craft around Lina would falter when she wasn't watching. Back in those days she would have to be in a different room, though.

"I take it you're not happy with this plan." Zelgadis said quietly.

"Well, I don't like leaving Luke and Pomona here." Gourry admitted, "But it's safer. I mean, they'd likely be in more danger with Lina and me right now."

"You and Lina would have your hands full keeping yourselves alive and protecting them." Zelgadis commented.

Gourry smiled wryly, "Especially now that I've got Lina, Min and Attie to keep tabs on. I mean when Lina and I traveled when we were young it was just her, and just keeping her safe was a handful. And she could take care of herself! Luke and Pomona can't hold their own in a fight. And now that I'm so much older there's Min and Attie as well. It's too much with Pomona and Luke. It's for the best. I just don't like that it is for the best."

"Hey," Zelgadis said quietly, "Let me watch Attie's back. And knowing Lina, the two of you together will protect Min."

Gourry looked at him, and Zelgadis looked away. "What's going on between you and Attie?"

A hint of awkwardness rose through him. Back when they were fighting together Zelgadis never would had thought that one day he would fall in love with Gourry's daughter. It was a delicate situation between wanting to preserve their friendship and knowing what Attie meant to Gourry. "I want to settle down, have kids. Attie doesn't. So nothing."

"It doesn't sound like there's nothing." Gourry replied.

Zelgadis sighed, "The feelings are there. But Attie won't even discuss it anymore. I mean, I thought as she got older she would change her mind, it's not as though she has a lot of time left for these things. But she hasn't and I can't get her to."

"Well, they have to give up a lot more than we do to settle down and have a family." Gourry pointed out, and then he smiled a little, "Back in the days I wasn't sure Lina would ever settle down. But she did."

"And young." Zelgadis pointed out. "Very young."

"Having children would have been a big thing to give up." Gourry mused, "I would have done it in a heartbeat if it was what I had to do to be with Lina. Lina became my family, and either we would grow our family or we wouldn't. What mattered was that I had made a commitment to her."

"What are you saying?" Zelgadis asked as he felt the heat rush to his face and the defensiveness flair.

"I'm just talking about making a commitment to Lina." Gourry said, "Attie told me once that she wants what me and Lina have for herself one day but didn't think she would ever have it. She's seen how these things go wrong and how much it hurts. Dianna and Kenneth wanted children, and not being able to tore them apart. So she has high standards."

"Are you saying I'm not doing enough to show commitment? Because what else is wanting to settle down and have children?" Zelgadis asked.

"Commitment is being with the woman you love no matter where you end up. It means being together whether you live on the road or off it." Gourry explained, "Look, you chose your cure over Amelia. I don't think even Amelia faults you for that. Your quality of life was such that you needed to find your cure. I guess now you have to decide if being with Attie is more important than having children or not."

"Are you saying I don't love her enough?" Zelgadis asked.

"It's not about that. People can love each other deeply without being committed to each other." Gourry said, "It's about if you're going to choose her and make that commitment to choose her every day."

Zelgadis shook his head as he looked up ahead at Attie, who wore a serious expression as she talked with Min. Gourry smiled, "Look, you can scoff, but Lina and I have forty years of marriage under our belt. And it's been a happy marriage, even with the tragedy we suffered."

Zelgadis folded his arms across his chest as he started to think about what the swordsman was saying, "I…I can't argue with that."

* * *

Xellos wore the weight of the complicated situation he found himself in. Forty years ago they had seen the resurrection of Shabringdu, only to lose another 7th because his rebirth had divided loyalties among the Mazoku race. That, and Luke Shabranigdu had wanted to be destroyed. While Xellos knew that Nigel Shabranigdu did not have a death wish, gathering four people with shards of Shabranigdu in their souls and the Demon Lord of the North together would essentially mean five different masters for the Mazoku to serve. And having just two masters was devastating enough for their race.

 _And while we're fighting amongst ourselves, Ceiphied's followers just have to sit back and watch us destroy ourselves,_ Xellos mused, _Clever move, separating Lord Shabranigdu into seven pieces. And very, very bad for us._

Xellos opened his eyes, and hoped that what he did next would not be the first of many moves that would start the fracture of the Mazoku race, leading to their demise. And then he left the astral plane and materialized in the human world. Quietly he walked up to the woman who, despite her years, could still boast a thick mane of crimson hair as she tended to the plants in her greenhouse. "Is that you, Xellos?" she asked as she turned to look at him.

"Yes, my lord." He said as he bowed as Rubia let her aura show. As usual waves of sadness emanated from her. Yet there was never that urge for destruction that he sensed from the other humans cursed with Shabranigdu. It was a strange contradiction that worried him.

"What's the latest?" she asked as she returned to watering the plants.

"The spell was successfully discovered, and we are currently looking for the other hosts. Nigel is on his way to Atlas City. And he has ordered me to eliminate Lina Inverse within a week."

Rubia smiled sadly, "It must happen, yet not within a week. These things take time. I have no doubt she will make her way here. She trusts me. I will take care of extinguishing her life. You are to leave Lina Inverse alone."

"Do not underestimate her." Xellos cautioned as he felt an unusual sense of freedom overtake him. One seventh of Shabranigdu had ordered him to kill Lina. Another seventh had told him not to. Which one to follow? With a jolt of euphoria, he realized that for the first time in his life he had a choice. And then fear rushed in as he realized how dangerous this power of choice was, especially if each Mazoku was granted the same power. How would they ever return the world to chaos if they were fighting amongst themselves?

"I've seen her in action." Rubia said, "I know to be careful and thorough. Nigel is young and arrogant. I will keep him in check."

"When can I tell Nigel about you?" Xellos asked.

"When he gets to Atlas City." Rubia said, "He's not going to like confronting that this was not his idea and he is not the ring leader. Don't worry. I will help him make peace with it."

"Yes, my lord." Xellos said as the sense of unease grew within him as he wondered if getting Nigel to make peace with it would even be possible. "They have found another seventh in Zefiel City. A child, naturally. We are working to secure him into our custody."

"Excellent." Rubia said, "So that leaves one more to track down."

She set her watering can down and walked over to him and patted him gently on the arm before she moved her hand up to stroke his cheek. He did his best not to blanch. Such displays were counter to what is meant to be a Mazoku. The human element was indeed corrupting, and seeing how merging a human and Mazoku soul turned out differently with each host was jarring. No true Mazoku would ever dare show another such warmth. Once again, his suspicions rose even as she smiled at him, "Well done Beastmaster. Find the last shard and report back to me when you do. You have my every confidence."

Xellos moved back to the astral plane and started to move to seek Greater Beast before setting out on his mission. None of how this was falling into place was setting well with him. And he needed her guidance.


	8. Living in the Shadow

Lina felt the breath vanish from her lungs as she saw Luna on the road, holding the hand of a small boy. From beside her Gourry wrapped an arm around her as Min and Attie exchanged a glance. Lina stopped in her tracks, and everyone else moved just a bit behind her as she stared at Luna in shock. For a moment the sisters looked each other over quietly, each waiting for the other one to speak. Sylphiel watched the impending confrontation, confusion evident on her face, but read from the demeanor of the group that this was not the time to ask questions. Meanwhile, Lina fumbled through her feelings, realizing as she did that while she had started to come to terms in some ways with Dianna's death, she still wasn't ready to forgive her sister for her coldness in the aftermath of the event.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Lina finally spat as she folded her arms across her chest, her stance clearly indicating that this was not a welcome surprise.

"I'm not surprised." Luna said quietly, and if she was perturbed by Lina's thinly veiled hostility, she did not show it, "Considering the reason I'm even on the road in the first place."

"Must be the same damn reason we're here if you decided to get out and do your own dirty work." Lina replied.

Unaccustomedly, Luna glanced at the ground for a moment before she looked at Lina again, "Couldn't help it this time. I guess you know Mazoku are searching for the people who conceal Shabranigdu in their souls."

 _And I'll be damned before I tell you they learned the spell from me,_ Lina thought as she nodded, "Why don't you tell me what you know first for once? And then I'll think about telling you what I know."

Attie looked at Min in surprise as Min kept her gaze focused on Luna as everyone waited to see what the other woman would do. Finally Luna explained, "A few days ago I caught a Mazoku performing that reveal spell on this boy, Charlie. His shadow turned red. They tried to kidnap him but I prevented it. We've been on the road since for obvious reasons."

Lina put her hand over her mouth as she felt Gourry's fingers dig into her shoulder as Luna continued, "Charlie is Morris' son. Born about a month before Luke was if I recall correctly."

"What?" Lina gasped.

"Morris wasn't happy that I took him, but I do have to protect him."

Lina felt as though her knees were going to buckle as Gourry grabbed hold of her, whether to keep himself up or to steady her she wasn't sure. She shook her head as she said, "Di's fragment was reborn in Morris' son!? Morris' son!"

Charlie took a step back behind Luna as she confirmed, "Yes. After testing him I'm sure of it." Luna suddenly moved forward to Lina, who took a step back, "Lina, the irony…"

"Irony?" Lina repeated, "Irony, that Morris's son is alive and stricken with the same condition that Di was, while my daughter is dead because of Morris? Irony is not the word I would use!"

"Lina, listen…"

"No," Lina said, "You listen, you do what you have to with that boy, but you keep him far away from me, because I want Morris to feel what I feel every damn moment of every day! Now, get out of my way!"

"I know this isn't fair…"

Lina laughed sardonically, "Don't try to pretend like you care. It's six years too late for that, Sis. Now, don't make me ask you again to get out of my way."

Luna sighed as she moved along the side of the road, and Lina raced forward with Gourry at her side, his expression unreadable. Min and Attie looked at each other and walked over to Luna while Zel and Sylphiel stayed to the side. Once their parents were further down the road Min moved forward to give Luna a hug, "It's good to see you." Min whispered.

"All this time I was looking for people with the passenger," Attie said as she went to hug Luna once Min had stepped away, "I hadn't thought to look in Zefiel City. It just didn't seem likely it would happen twice in the same place."

"I made the same error in thinking." Luna admitted. "He was right under our noses."

"Do you remember Zelgadis?" Attie asked.

"Yes," Luna said, "I don't remember the woman, though."

"This is Sylphiel. She helped my parents out back in the day apparently, and is along for the ride again." Attie explained.

"Lina mentioned you." Luna said, "I'm Luna Inverse."

"Lina's sister?" Sylphiel asked.

"Yes."

"It's good to meet you. You must be a powerful sorceress yourself."

Luna shook her head, "My talents lie in other directions."

"Aunt Luna," Min said quietly, "I don't know if Mom will come around or not, and I'm not sure if Dad is mad at you as well or if he's presenting a united front with Mom. Either way, I don't think it would be a good idea for you to join us right now."

"Even if your mother were delighted to see me I would advise against it." Luna said.

Attie nodded as she thought for a moment before she asked, "When she calms down she is going to kick herself for not asking if Charlie has more control over Shabranigdu than Di did to gauge whether or not we were successful. Is there anything I can tell them that would bring them solace?"

Luna grasped Attie's hands, "We were successful. The fact that she was channeling a healing spell to save Zelgadis counted for quite a lot actually. One of the reasons no one ever suspected Charlie is because he does have so much more control over his passenger than Di did. Oh, the brat still has a temper, but nothing like Di's. Be sure to tell your parents that they did well. And so did you and Min."

Min reached a hand up and wiped some tears from her eyes as Attie wrapped an arm around her. "Thank you for telling us." Min said.

"Is he like Di?" Attie asked.

Luna shook her head, "Not really. His favorite color is blue and he hates books. Jealousy does seem to set him off, but that's it."

Attie nodded as she looked off to where her parents had taken off down the road. "We'd better catch up with them."

"Of course." Luna said, "Stay safe. We will meet again."

Min and Attie both gave her a departing hug as Sylphiel said, "It was good to meet you."

An awkward silence descended upon the group as they parted with Luna. Once they had got a certain distance away Sylphiel asked quietly, "I'm sorry, this is so personal and feel free not to say anything if I overstepped my bounds. But what was all that about?"

Zelgadis watched as Attie and Min glanced at each other. Then Min said, "I guess it's all relevant. Where to start?"

* * *

Rubia smiled warmly as Nigel was escorted into the dining room by one of her neighbor's boys that she often paid to run various errands for her, "Welcome." Rubia said as she indicated that Nigel take a seat.

Nigel looked at her suspiciously as he sat down and looked at the food for a moment before glancing back at her. Rubia, meanwhile, got out a gold coin and gave it to the boy, "Thank you. Tell your mother I said 'hi.'"

"Thanks, miss!" he said as he ran off, leaving Rubia alone with Nigel.

"What is this about?" Nigel asked.

"I see you want to get straight to business." Rubia said, "That's fine. But be sure to eat. You've had a long journey."

"Which you know about how?" he asked.

"There is very little that the Dark Lord does not tell me." Rubia said as she allowed her aura to show, causing Nigel's mouth to drop.

"You're another seventh!" he said.

"Yes." Rubia confirmed.

"But, why didn't mine say anything about you?"

"I am quite a bit older than you," Rubia pointed out, "And through the years I've gotten better at learning things from him that he doesn't want me to know."

"So you know where the other people containing him are." Nigel said. "And what I'm planning to do."

Rubia grabbed her glass and drank a sip of wine. "There is a child who until recently was living in Zefiel City. And then another, an older man. But he is so guarded that even I can't determine where he is."

Nigel smiled as he grabbed a fork and stabbed his steak, "This is great! I have people working to secure the child."

"I know." Rubia said.

"And with your help it won't be too difficult to track down the old man." Nigel said as he cut up the steak and took a bite. "Wow, this is incredible!"

"Thank you." Rubia said.

"I take it you know my plan."

"Yes." Rubia said as Nigel took another bite.

"And since you called me here I presume that you're willing to help." Nigel said as he grabbed his flask and took a sip of wine.

Rubia smiled sadly, "I think your plan could use some adjustments."

Nigel slammed the glass down, "Such as?"

"Hush." Rubia said, "Save the questions for later."

"No," Nigel said, "I…I…"

But his mouth felt heavy as a fog seemed to descend upon his brain and it suddenly became difficult to stay awake, "Wh…what did you do…"

"Hush." Rubia said, "It's time to take a long nap, that's all."

"What?" Nigel managed to croak before he slumped onto the floor.

"Olev." Rubia said quietly as she got up to check on Nigel. In a matter of minutes the chimera appeared. Halciform had been constructing Olev when he died so they could have someone to do the heavy lifting, and heavy lifting was about all he was good for. "Please take this man to the basement."

"Yes, Miss Rubia." Olev said as he picked Nigel up. Quietly Rubia walked beside Olev as he carried Nigel to the steps and to the room that Rubia had prepared. Within her head her passenger protested. But as always, Rubia was good at ignoring him.

* * *

It was hard for Sylphiel to not feel as though she was intruding on the Gabriev sisters. The inn had only three rooms available, so Lina and Gourry had taken one, Zelgadis another, which left Sylphiel with having to share with Min and Attie. It didn't help that the current mess they had found themselves in involved a good deal of personal family history. Still, Sylphiel tried to look immersed in her book as Attie said, "I told Mom and Dad about what Aunt Luna had said. I think it meant a lot to Dad, but I don't think Mom was ready to hear it."

"To be honest it doesn't mean much to me, either." Min said quietly, "I just want my sister back, but that's not happening."

"I want her back, too. I mean, she understood what it was like to live in someone's shadow." Attie replied.

"Huh?" Min said.

But Attie continued, "But she's not coming back. And considering how much she suffered, and how hard we all worked, well, it means something that it didn't go to waste, doesn't it?"

Min patted Attie on her knee, "You and Dad. I swear there's not a selfish bone in your bodies."

Attie scoffed, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Oh yeah?"

Attie thought for a moment, and then rested her head on Min's shoulder. "I've been furious lately if you must know. Events are finally starting to kick into action, and I'm on the battlefield with my parents like some green novice. But what can be done about it? I'm not exactly powerful enough for them to hand the reigns to. So off to battle I go with my Mommy and Daddy holding my hand."

Min turned a little to look at her, "Someone is gathering all of the pieces of Shabranigdu to resurrect him, and you're worried that people are going to judge you for having the only people who have taken him down with you on the battlefield?"

Attie smiled a little, "Yeah, it's crazy when you put it like that. Still. You were smart enough to go and make your own name in research and got a small measure of fame and recognition. Idiot me has nothing."

"Hey, you're not as dumb as you think you are." Min said consolingly.

"Am I? I figured that if I traveled I would have taken down someone big by now, earned my legacy as their daughter. But nothing. Not even a low level Mazoku! Granted, I'm not the sorceress that Mom is, but with the Blast Sword I thought I could take someone big down. I even went to Wolf Pack Island to draw Xellos out…"

"I take it back, you are as dumb as you think you are!" Min snapped as Sylphiel gave up the pretense of pretending to read as she put her book down.

"Nothing happened."

"Yeah, because Xellos is smart enough to know that if a hair on your head was so much as singed he would open the door on Mom's wrath!" Min said, "Come on, Atalanta. Losing Di was hard enough for them, they don't need you foolishly rushing into the lion's den!"

"At least I would have the chance to make a name for myself!" Attie retorted, "Instead of being Lina and Gourry's daughter. Hell, Mom understands. She knew what it was like growing up in Aunt Luna's shadow. Well, try growing up in hers!"

"I did, and you don't see me going to Wolf Pack Island or dreaming of Shabranigdu's rebirth." Min stated.

Attie shook her head, "This is what I meant by Di understanding. Min, you were so popular growing up, and you are so good at your job. Things just came so easily for you and you were quickly able to make a name for yourself, forge an identity outside of being Lina Inverse's daughter. For Di and I it was harder, and while Di did get recognition for her skills, she had to overcome a lot of fear and hatred people had towards her. She was never popular and she knew it. Me, well people liked me well enough but I was never able to break out of the Lina Inverse's daughter mold. I guess I shouldn't have tried to follow in their footsteps, you and Di were smart to try something different. Decades later and I'm still just Lina and Gourry's kid. And people wonder why I don't want to go and be some man's wife!"

"Sometimes life doesn't turn out how we want it, or plan it to." Sylphiel cut in, "We do have to make peace with how things end up though."

Attie smiled wryly, "Says the High Priestess who rebuilt Sairaag."

"I'm proud of what I did," Sylphiel said, "It wasn't my first choice, though."

Suddenly Sylphiel wished she hadn't said anything as they both looked at her inquiringly. "What was Plan A then?" Attie asked.

"For Sairaag to have never been destroyed in the first place." Sylphiel said as she felt incredibly self-conscious.

"That would be a big thing to carry with you." Min agreed. "And she's right, Attie, if she can come to terms with that surely you can accept where you are."

"Respectfully," Attie said, "The reason Mom got to be so accomplished was because she didn't accept that she couldn't make a difference."

"That's not what…" Min said.

"Even your mother has to accept that things didn't turn out as planned." Sylphiel said, "Such as with Dianna."

"Dianna is something we all have to accept." Attie said, "But being unaccomplished? That's different. My shot will come one day, and I'm going to grab it by the horns when it does."

"I always thought of you as very accomplished," Min said, "But in the behind the shadows way that people tend to miss. Like Dad really."

Attie smiled as she rested her head on her knees, "One day I plan to step out into the sun."


	9. Burn

"This inn has been a lot nicer than the ones we've been staying at." Min said as she spread butter on her toast.

"Well, we're getting closer to Atlas City." Attie explained as she cut into her pancakes, "We should make it there today. It's no wonder the lodging is getting better."

"Thank goodness we're nearly there." Min sighed, "I hate traveling, and with the increase in the number of demon attacks this just keeps getting worse!"

"How are you even my daughter?" Lina asked as Attie and Zel laughed.

Gourry, meanwhile, indicated the jug of milk on the table beside Lina, "Could you pass me that, Adena?"

Lina dropped her fork as she felt as though he had just winded her. "Who?" Sylphiel asked as she looked up from her poached eggs.

"My sister." Gourry said as he pointed at Lina.

Lina mechanically grabbed the milk and handed it to Gourry, "Excuse me." She said quietly as she got up and walked out of the inn, followed by Attie.

They quietly walked away from the building and then Attie put a hand on her shoulder. "I thought that the medicine was going to help." She said.

"Help as in prevent it from getting worse." Lina said, her voice heavy, "But it won't make him better again. And since it had been a few days I guess I was stupid enough to think it would heal him."

"Not stupid." Attie said, "Hopeful."

Lina smiled warily and patted her hand and did her best to put on a brave face. Yet she was rattled, deeply. Gourry had looked at her and hadn't remembered who she was. What would happen when the memory loss became permanent? "Come on, these episodes don't last long, and when we get back he'll be back to his usual lug headed self." Lina said as she pushed her worries away. She simply couldn't do anything about them now.

Attie looked uncertain, but followed her mother into the inn. Gourry smiled at them when they came in and sat back down, "Welcome back." He said as he grabbed Lina's hand.

"Miss me?" Lina asked, as she wondered if he knew who she was now.

"Nah," Gourry said, "It's just you have a habit of getting into trouble whenever I'm not around, Lina."

Lina smiled in relief and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at her in surprise, "You okay? I mean doesn't saying something like that deserve a smack?"

Lina gave him a quick peck on the lips, "I'm letting you off easy for once. Just don't expect this to be a habit."

* * *

"Wow, Atlas City sure didn't change much since the last time we were here." Lina commented as they walked through the streets.

"Yeah, I bet we could still find that old inn we used to stay at." Gourry replied.

Usually Lina would make some witty retort about him not being able to remember, but these days it just seemed to be in poor taste. "We should check and put our stuff up, and then we'll see about tracking down Nigel." Lina said instead.

"I can help with that." A new voice said, and the group turned to look at the woman who was approaching them with flaming red hair.

Lina's eyes widened in recognition, "Rubia?" she asked.

Rubia nodded, "It is good to see you again, Miss Lina. Mr. Gourry. It looks like you've added some family since we last met."

Lina shook her head incredulously. Rubia barely looked as though she had aged a day! "These are our daughters, Min and Attie." Lina said, "And some friends, Sylphiel and Zelgadis."

"It's good to meet you." Rubia said, bowing slightly.

"And this is Rubia." Lina explained.

"The woman who was involved in the incident with the sorcerer's guild? And the woman who owns a greenhouse?" Min asked as Attie shook her head in exasperation.

"How do you keep track of all of those stories?"

"Yes, that's me." Rubia said quietly, "Come with me, please. There is much I have to tell you regarding Nigel and what is happening."

Lina looked at her warily, and wondered how she had known about Nigel. Had he already caused trouble for the city? "Right behind you."

* * *

The group seated themselves in Rubia's cozy sitting room completely unaware that they were being watched by Xellos, who carefully masked his presence as he observed them. After talking with Greater Beast and taking some time to think on his newfound freedom, he had decided that the best course of action would be to gather more information. So he silently observed the group as Rubia doled out tea and biscuits.

Once she had ensured that everyone was taken care of, she smiled warily and said, "So I suppose you're wanting to learn what happened to Nigel."

"Yes." Lina said, and from the way she sat in a guarded stance on her seat, Xellos decided that age had not weakened her. Her companion was another matter. Xellos could sense that he was more ill than he let on. And as for their daughters, Xellos had observed Attie enough to know her strengths and weaknesses and knew not to consider her much of a threat. Min, on the other hand, was a complete unknown.

"He's here, actually." Rubia explained, "In a state of extended sleep."

"What?" Gourry asked.

"Really?" Min asked as she brightened, "But how did you perfect it?"

"Please remember, not all of us waste our precious time with books." Attie chimed in, "So why don't one of you smart types fill Dad and I in?"

"It's just like what it sounds," Lina said quietly, "It's like being put under a sleep spell, except one that doesn't need to be cast every eight hours or so, and it also preserves the body so that it does not age or require nutrition, though whoever is put in an extended sleep can be brought out of it at any time, though it will be like they haven't aged a day. I know some guilds were experimenting with this, but I didn't know any were successful."

"I don't have much to do with the guild, so they wouldn't have learned about it." Rubia explained.

"But why did you put Nigel in such a state? And how did you manage to do it?" Zelgadis asked. Xellos smiled a little. In his human form the man was no longer the warrior he once was.

"How is the easier question." Rubia said, "I gained his confidence and then betrayed him by poisoning his food."

Gourry looked at Lina, who remained calm, as the rest of the group suddenly put their cups down. "And why did you do that?" Lina asked as she casually took another sip.

Somehow, Rubia had perfected the art of smiling when sad, and she did it then as she explained. "I'm like your daughter, Dianna. Yes, I know all about her."

"You have a shard of Shabranigdu within you?" Lina replied, her voice tight.

"Yes." Rubia said.

"And you control it so well."

Rubia nodded, "I think, being a copy gave me strength over him that other humans do not possess. It is a struggle. And I don't want it to be anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" Zelgadis asked.

"I mean I want to gather the people who remain who house him in their souls, and then I want to put them in the same state I put Nigel in. All of them, including myself." Rubia explained, "Then in sleep I will not have to bear this burden, and no more people will be harmed by him."

The result of Rubia's pronouncement was a loud, noisy, jumble of voices as everyone started talking rather loudly at once. Xellos smirked. He was right not to trust Rubia. It would seem that in her case, the human element truly was too corrupting, and she was at risk of walking down the path that Gaav had. In any case, eavesdropping had proven to be fruitful for the Mazoku, allowing him the clarity he needed to determine who to follow. And so, without revealing his presence, he reverted to the astral plane.

* * *

"Enough! Let me talk." Lina yelled to be heard about the fray. She took a breath as she felt everyone's eyes on her, and then she looked at Rubia, "This plan has merits, but it's also crazy. What if the Mazoku find where you are stored and try to revive you?"

"That's why I ensured that you would return to Atlas City." Rubia explained, "I can't think of any family better prepared to keep watch over us."

"And what makes you think we even want that burden?" Lina snapped.

"Excuse me," Sylphiel said, quietly but firmly, "But one of the people housing Shabranigdu is just a boy, he's only six. Surely he can't spend the rest of his life in extended sleep."

Lina felt her heart tighten as she thought about Charlie. Morris' son. Morris' son that Luna was protecting so that one day Charlie could go home to him, and once again Morris could be with his child. He could talk to Charlie. He could hold Charlie. He could be with Charlie. While she would never be with Dianna again because Morris had set the mob on her. Once more, the desire to hurt Morris as she had been hurt rose as a blind rage filled her, and she couldn't think about anything beyond the desire for revenge.

"Horrible as it sounds, this would be a blessing to those of us who house him." Rubia explained as she locked eyes with Sylphiel, "Knowing that we are safe from hurting people."

Gourry looked at Lina and reached out to hold her hand, and then he looked at Rubia, "I think we're the wrong ones making the decision. For you, Rubia, you're an adult. And for Nigel this may be the best. He has murdered and hurt so many people already it is likely impossible for him to turn it around. But Charlie is too young to make that decision."

"At the same time, Charlie does have the potential to kill and harm others and destroy the world." Min said somberly, "So it's all of our business. And he can't do what Rezo or Luke did if he's in extended sleep."

"I know it is drastic." Rubia said, "Remember what I am, though, a copy. And I have the technology to make more copies here in my basement. We can make a copy of Charlie and the others."

Rubia's words cut through the thick rage that Lina was feeling, and she put her hand on the necklace she always wore. A copy? "But they wouldn't have their memories, it's basically creating someone's identical twin." Lina said.

"Things have progressed since I was created." Rubia said as she looked at Zelgadis, "And the person who developed a spell to transfer memories from one body to another is in this room."

Zelgadis looked up, and then he appeared uncomfortable with his research being referenced. But then it wasn't exactly a secret that he had gotten his human body back by separating the blow demon and rock golem elements from his skin samples and then used it to make a copy of his original body, and then transferred his consciousness from his cursed body to the copy. "It's doable. Like Gourry said, though, I was an adult, and I knew the risks when I did it."

"I can't say I agree with the ethics of copies at all." Min said.

"All of this, really, is rather sketchy to me." Attie added.

"I wouldn't have gotten my body back without the use of making a copy, granted, it was one of the scariest things I'd ever done. Some people have criticized my method and said I essentially killed myself in the process." Zelgadis said quietly. "Back to the situation at hand, I think Lina has a point about how practical this is. We could spend the rest of our lives guarding you, but once the Mazoku race finds out, they will hit us, and hard. It just seems too risky."

Bells started to chime, and Rubia stood up in alarm, "Someone has breached the basement."

Rubia took off, and everyone got up and followed along behind her, until Xellos materialized before Lina and Gourry. Rubia, Sylphiel and Min continued on to the basement, unaware of Xellos' appearance. Attie and Zelgadis were another matter, and they stopped to face their foe. "Lina." Xellos said. "It has been awhile."

"Xellos." Lina said, as from beside her she felt Gourry grab his sword. Technically between the four of them they had Xellos surrounded. But then, it was Xellos.

"I have orders to kill you." Xellos said.

"I see." Lina replied. She wasn't really surprised.

"It's rather bothersome really." Xellos continued as he pulled a flask from his pocket, "My time is valuable, so I'm offering you this to save me some trouble if you will."

"What is that?" Lina asked.

"The cure for what ails Gourry." Xellos replied. "I'll give it to him, if you make this easy and lay down your life."

Lina felt as though she had been punched in the gut, "Why should I even believe you?"

"What makes you think I would even let her do that?" Gourry asked, incensed.

"Suit yourself." Xellos said as he pocketed the flask, "I didn't think it would work, but it was worth a shot."

Lina snorted as she tried to project confidence and tried to not be distracted with her worries on closing the door to curing Gourry, "You all must be rather scared if you're asking this of me."

In a flash Gourry moved so he was in front of her, his sword in between Lina and Xellos, causing the Mazoku to abandon his attack. "We need to get to a place with more space." Lina said as she turned and started to run as she thought about all of the times she had gotten out alive because the Mazoku she was fighting allowed her to get to a space where she could cast her big spells. Yet she was doubtful that Xellos would afford her such a luxury.

"Do you think I'm going to let you do that?" Xellos asked as he disappeared and rematerialized before her. He sent shockwaves in the opposite direction, and she heard Gourry cry out as he fell to the ground. Her heart lurched, but she couldn't make it to him. Zelgadis crouched beside him, and she focused on finishing her spell to get this over with as soon as possible.

The spell was on the tip of her fingertips when she saw the dreaded corkscrews start to form. In a flash Attie raced in front of her. Lina's heart leapt for a moment, but then she realized that she was holding the Sword of Amplification, an object they had recovered after Luke and Milina had died. It could absorb spells, even ones cast by Mazoku, and then release them. Was Attie going to try to absorb Xellos' corkscrew attack?

Xellos backed away as Attie's sword absorbed his attack, and he found himself having to dodge Gourry, who had thankfully recovered enough to lunge forward, but Xellos retreated to the astral plane. "Damn." Lina said as she saw Gourry clutch at his side as he retreated a bit. He was injured. And Zelgadis wasn't getting up from where he was. Had he been hurt by the shockwave attack as well and she hadn't realized it?

Before Lina could check on everyone, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and she turned around to find herself face to face with Xellos. Her spell was mostly complete. All she had to do was say the power words to activate it. Yet she found herself hesitating. What if the secret to healing Gourry died with Xellos?

Instead of releasing the spell, Lina backed away as Attie charged at Xellos and released his attack back on him. Xellos retreated again, and the corkscrews pulverized the wall instead, sending dust and chunks of rock everywhere. Attie yelped as some of the debris hit her hand, causing her grip on the sword to falter as Xellos appeared again. This time he sent flames hurling towards Lina, and Attie twisted awkwardly, attempting to block the attack with her sword but with her grip on it was so poor she couldn't quite make it, and had no protection from the spell that hit her instead of its intended target.


	10. To Commit

Attie's screams rang through the hallway as Gourry cut the spell with his sword. Out of the corner of her eye, Lina saw Gourry and Zelgadis surround Attie as she continued to scream. Yet Lina had to ignore it so she could focus on protecting them from Xellos. The dissonance that resulted was painful. To not be able to comfort your child when they cried was the most unnatural thing in the world! Yet if she let her guard down again, Xellos could very well kill them all. And she had already been such a fool to hesitate!

"Ragna spear!" Lina cried as she impaled Xellos. It was a spell that she had discovered with her team while researching Chaos magic, and it was a weak version of the Ragna Blade, one she could cast without needing amplification. It was still powerful, about at the level of the Dragon Slave, and its range limited enough that she didn't have to worry about destroying the town with it.

Xellos cried out as she pinned him to the wall, obviously wounded but not dead. Lina fought to focus on her enemy, to block out Attie's screams as she frantically worked out what to do next when, from the door to the basement, Lina heard the rest of the group arrive. "No!" Min cried as she came up with Sylphiel and Rubia from the basement.

Lina felt some relief as from the corner of her eye she saw Sylphiel run to Attie. But then her attention turned to the feel of intense bloodlust and a tingle of electricity and she realized that Xellos was about to launch an attack on her. But suddenly Gourry was there, the Blast Sword raised, and then Xellos' eyes widened as he heard the spell that Min was chanting: the Ra Tilt. And before he could endure the triple combo of an attack from Lina, Gourry and Min, Xellos disappeared into the astral plane. "Damn!" Lina said.

And then, Lina spun around and ran to Attie, with Gourry and Min close beside her. Lina felt herself sway as she clung to Gourry for support, and her first thought was that there was no way Attie was going to survive this. Her left side of her body was charred, her arm gone, as was her foot, and the burns so deep that her bones were exposed at several places. Yet, somehow, her chest was moving up and down.

"What's going to happen to her?" Gourry asked.

"Let Sylphiel work." Lina said.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Min asked, as she looked as where Xellos had disappeared.

"He's going to rest for a bit most likely." Lina explained as she knelt down on the floor beside Attie, and exchanged a glance with Zelgadis, who was on Attie's other side, looking grief stricken.

"I have some salves that can help." Rubia said as she ran out of the room as Lina felt tears start to slide down her cheeks.

 _I can't go through this again._

"She'll be okay?" Gourry asked hopefully, "Sylphiel can heal her, right?"

"Burns are…tricky." Min eventually said.

"What does that mean?" Gourry asked.

Lina couldn't find the words the explain. But she thought of Zolf, who had to be wrapped in bandages for a week before he recovered from her spell. And Zolf was lucky. For some spells, the burns were just too severe to fully recover from. Her mind raced frantically. They could contact Nes! But then Lina remembered Milgasea's prosthetic arm. Which meant that there were injuries that not even a golden dragon could regenerate limbs from! What if Attie's wounds were that severe?

"What does that mean?" Gourry asked again in alarm as everyone watched Attie in teared silence, especially as the minutes passed with no noticeable change, "Min, can you help?"

Rubia returned holding a container. "What's in that?" Min asked.

Rubia told her, and Min and Rubia knelt down and started applying it to Attie's burns before they started to wrap them. Eventually Sylphiel stopped chanting, "I think this is as good as it is going to get for now." She said heavily, and Lina had to fight back a sob. This was the best that could be done for Attie!? "Fortunately her lungs weren't badly damaged and she can breathe on her own."

"But her wounds…" Zelgadis said as he wiped the tears from his face as he looked at Attie's burnt and charred body.

"We're just going to have to wait and see." Sylphiel said as she started to help Rubia and Min with wrapping them. "But I've seldom seen injuries like this. Whatever he hit her with is preventing her body from healing like it should."

"Is she going to be an invalid?" Lina asked as she looked at Attie's arm and leg. She simply could not see how Attie would be able to walk or cast spells again.

"I don't know." Sylphiel said chillingly.

* * *

Zelgadis wiped the tears from his face once more as Gourry placed Attie on the bed in a guest room Rubia had taken them to. Sylphiel, Rubia and Min had slathered her in ointment and wrapped her in bandages so that she was essentially unrecognizable. Lina raced to her side and held Attie's good hand and said something quietly to her, but Zelgadis wasn't sure if Attie could hear her. She still had not waken up. Sylphiel pulled up the blankets around her and exchanged a look with Rubia as Min went over and wrapped her arms around Lina, and Gourry in turn wrapped his arms around the two of them.

Zelgadis pulled up a chair on Attie's other side and sat close to her as Sylphiel and Rubia left the room. There were serious matters to discuss, but at the moment, no one was in the mood for it. Zelgadis couldn't even bring himself to care about what was happening with Nigel. Zelgadis looked at Attie's shoulder, where her arm was now gone, and felt the fear rise within him.

Slowly the hours passed. When morning came Rubia and Sylphiel returned to help Min change her bandages. When they removed them Zelgadis had to do his best to keep from gasping in disgust. "What do you think?" Lina asked Sylphiel.

Sylphiel shook her head, "I'm not liking how this is healing. Especially since I can't get her to generate new skin."

"I could try taking some skin samples and then I can produce more skin and use them to try to graft them on her." Rubia suggested, "Once I get my lab fixed, that is."

"Huh?" Gourry asked as Min put her hand over her mouth.

"Xellos tried to destroy a lot of what was in my lab. And of course he released Nigel." Rubia explained, "I can fix it up, though. And then I can try to generate new skin, even a new arm and a leg, graft it over the damaged parts."

Gourry shook his head, "That sounds crazy!"

Sylphiel pursed her lips, "It may work. But some of these burns go down to her bones. You'd have to generate muscle as well."

"We could make a copy and then transfer her memories to the copy." Rubia suggested.

"Attie would never agree to that." Min said.

"Let's see what she says when she wakes up." Lina added, her voice unusually lifeless.

It was late in the afternoon when Attie started stirring, and Zelgadis broke down into tears once more. He had been so scared she'd never wake up, that he'd never get to tell her. But finally her good eye fluttered open, and she looked around the strange room in confusion. "What happened?" she asked weakly.

"You were hit by a powerful spell." Lina explained as she stroked her cheek. "You're recovering now."

"How bad is it?" she asked.

Silence filled the room as everyone looked at each other uncomfortably. Attie sat up in alarm, and Lina finally said as she gently pressed her back to the bed, "We don't know yet."

"But what sort of injuries do I have?" she asked.

"Let's talk about it another time." Gourry said.

"I want to know now!" Attie persisted.

"You have a lot of burns on the left side of your body." Min explained. "They're resistant to healing spells. We're working with salves and potions and seeing what results. But it will take time to heal."

"What do you mean resistant to healing? And seeing what results with salves and potions?" Attie asked, panicking.

Min closed her eyes, "We don't even know, yet, honey. Don't worry about it right now, just think about getting better."

Attie tried to push herself up again, but suddenly realized that she had the use of only one arm, "What happened to my arm? Is it gone?"

Gourry looked at Lina hopelessly as she said, "We're going to try to do a prosthetic."

"I won't be able to cast spells with that!" Attie shot back.

"We don't know that. I know someone who could cast spells with a prosthetic. We're going to do everything we can to get you back into top shape!" Lina said firmly. "We've contacted Nes, we'll see about getting you to Saillune, we are going to fight this together!"

Attie collapsed back onto the bed as though the news was too overwhelming. After a few moments she whispered, "Get out."

Her family shared a glance, "Let's give her some time." Min said cautiously.

"We'll check on you in a few minutes." Gourry said softly.

"Can I say one thing to you alone before I go, Attie?" Zelgadis asked quietly.

"Quickly." Attie gritted.

From across the room, Lina caught his eye, and he could detect the whiff of _hurt her and I'll kill you_ in her gaze. Still, she left with Gourry and Min, and Zelgadis moved so he was on Attie's good side and she could see him. It was difficult to get a read on what she was feeling with her face so heavily bandaged, though when he grabbed her hand she held it. "Hey." He said softly.

"What is it you want?" She replied, her voice taunt and dangerous.

"To apologize." He said.

"For what?" she asked.

"For being such an ass about settling down and having kids." He explained.

Attie stared at him in silence for a moment, "I wasn't expecting you to say that."

"Huh?"

She gave a hollow laugh, "No one would blame you for not wanting anything to do with me now."

"No, Attie. Damn, do you think so little of me?"

"Well I'm certainly never going to be able to give you kids like this. Much less be able to do the thing that makes kids. And forget ever feeling pretty again!"

Zelgadis squeezed his eyes shut, "I don't care about that anymore. Look, when that spell hit you my world shattered. For a moment I thought that there was no way you were going to survive it, and I felt devastated. Because in addition to losing you, it hit me that I lost time I could have had with you over this. These past six years we could have been together, but we weren't because I was too stubborn about settling down."

"Hey," she said, "I never blamed you for it. You'd spent so long looking for your cure and putting those things off, it made sense that you wouldn't want to wait anymore."

"Right now, I think I'm going to regret not being with you more than never having children." Zelgadis said, "I realize now, I want to be with you, no matter what. I just wish it hadn't taken something like this to wake me up."

Attie was silent for a moment, and when she spoke her voice was shaky, "That's sweet of you, but I don't want to burden you with me."

"You wouldn't be a burden." He said.

She turned away from him, and her body started to tremble as sobs ran through them. "Hey," he said as he gently put a hand on her back, but was scared to do more, scared that the pressure would hurt her. "I'm here. And I'm going to stay here. I love you."

* * *

Lina was exhausted as Rubia lead her and Gourry to another guest room. Attie had cried herself to sleep and was out of immediate danger. Zel was insisting on staying with her so that Gourry, Min and herself could get some rest. And they needed the rest. Having the energy to go for days without sleep was something Lina did not have anymore. As she got older, she could tolerate it less and less. Still, at least she could sleep knowing for now at least, Attie was okay. And, should the worst happen and Attie's body refuse to heal, then Lina would make a copy and force her consciousness into it, consequences be damned. She was not losing another child.

Once again, she fingered her necklace and looked at Rubia. She had so many questions to ask her, but right now she was too tired to make her mouth work to ask them. Finally they came to a room, and Rubia opened the door. Lina and Gourry nodded their thanks and were about to go in when Rubia stopped them, "I know the timing is horrible, but I was wondering, what do you plan to do about Nigel?"

Lina looked at her for a moment as Gourry put an arm around her shoulder. Finally Lina said, "Nigel is your problem."

Lina closed the door, and she and Gourry walked over to the bed, too tired to even change their clothes as they collapsed on it. Gourry looked at her and asked, "Can we really sit this one out?"

Lina felt as though her brain were simply too tired to work, "I don't want to lose anyone else. Of course, but not doing anything, we risk losing everyone else. But then in that case, I wouldn't be aware of what I was missing, would I?"

Lina expected him to say something to snap her out of it or ignite her fighting spirit. Instead he quietly wrapped his arms around her as he started to weep.


	11. Hope and Healing

In Lina's dreams, all five of her children were alive and whole. Luke sat on Dianna's lap as she read aloud while Min, Attie and Pomona played jacks, each of them brimming with signs of life and health. The sense of surrealism was strong as Lina watched them, but while in the grasp of the dream she could not figure out why. When she woke up she realized it was because Luke's time had never overlapped with Dianna's. But then if events had not occurred as they had, they wouldn't have had Luke.

The sadness weighed heavily on her heart as laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. That no one had woken her was a good sign. It likely meant that Attie was still stable at the least. The bed shifted a bit as Gourry put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her to him for a tender kiss. "Hey." He said.

"Morning." She replied, though her voice didn't sound like her own.

"Why don't you lay in a bit, and I'll get breakfast ready and wake the girls." He said as he placed his hand on her forehead.

"Huh?" Lina said.

"You just look so tired, like you need a bit of a lie in. You must have picked up that bug from the girls. I can get Di ready for your sister, and I don't think your folks will mind if I bring Min and Attie with me today. They're usually pretty good at the store."

Lina closed her eyes as she recalled the time when Dianna, Min and Attie were little and had contracted the flu, and she had worn herself out caring for them. Why had his mind latched on to that time? Did it matter? Because whatever the reason, she couldn't bear the thought of dragging him to the present. It seemed cruel to force upon him the reality that they now lived in a world where one of their daughters was dead and another severely injured. She quickly grabbed him and held him so he couldn't see that she was crying, and did her best to keep her voice steady as she said, "I think they're going to sleep in a bit this morning, so there's no rush."

* * *

"I need to talk to you." Lina said as she cornered Rubia while everyone else filed out of the dining room after breakfast to see Attie.

"What is it?" Rubia asked.

Lina looked over her shoulder to make sure that everyone else was far down the hallway, and then she whispered, "What is it like, being a copy?"

Rubia smiled slightly, "What's it like not being a copy?"

"Huh?" Lina said.

"This is the only existence I have known. I don't remember anything from the original Rubia's life. Halciform never could understand that."

"I see." Lina said quietly, "What was it like when you first came into awareness?"

"Confusing." Rubia said, "But I learned quickly."

"Are you-" Lina started, and then she stumbled a bit as she tried to figure out how to ask her next question. "Are you mad that you are a copy?"

"No," Rubia said, "It's a struggle, certainly, but think of all that I would have missed if I hadn't been here."

"Gourry and I may never have stopped Halciform." Lina said.

Rubia put a hand on her shoulder, "What are you wanting to ask me?"

Lina closed her eyes, and then pulled her necklace out from under her shirt and opened the locket, revealing the blond hair that lay within. "I always thought of Halciform as a warning of what happens when we don't accept death. But it's so easy to say what you would do when you haven't gone through something. And I miss my daughter so much and I just want her back more than anything. Even if she doesn't remember, it would be like she developed amnesia, wouldn't it? She'd still be Dianna, but with a clean slate."

Lina hadn't meant to sound so desperate but she couldn't control it even as she hated herself for sounding as though she was begging. Yet as Rubia clasped her hands, Lina could tell from the look in the other woman's eyes that her hopes were about to be dashed. "I wish I could help you, Miss Lina. But Dianna has been dead for years. So that bit of hair has been decomposing for that long, and you've been handling it as well. There's no way we'd get a workable sample to make a copy with from it."

Lina bit her lip and nodded, "It was silly of me." She managed to croak.

"Not silly," Rubia said as she squeezed her hands, "Hope is a powerful emotion."

* * *

Lina walked into Attie's room and saw Sylphiel and Min undoing Attie's bandaging as she slept. Lina approached the foot of the bed and asked, "How is she?"

Zelgadis looked up at her, but if anyone wondered why she and Rubia were late to the gathering they kept it to themselves. Instead he said, "She was in a lot of pain, so I put her under a sleep spell. She should be out of it for about three more hours."

Lina watched as Sylphiel furrowed her brow as she examined Attie's burns. To Lina's dismay, it appeared as though they hadn't healed at all. If anything, they looked worse!

"Am I imaging it, or…" Min said as her voice trailed off.

"What?" Zel said.

"Are the burns spreading?" Gourry asked.

Lina put her hand over her mouth as Sylphiel said, "Miss Rubia, do you have a quill?"

"Yes, why?"

"So I can mark where her wounds are and we can track them to see if they are spreading or not." Sylphiel explained.

"But how are they spreading?" Lina asked.

"This is one nasty spell." Sylphiel said by way of explanation.

"That's all you can tell me?" Lina spat.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lina." Sylphiel said, "I plan to go down to the guild and do some research once I finish dressing her wounds again."

"I'll join you." Min said.

"Thank you."

Gourry grabbed her hand as he watched as Sylphiel, Rubia and Min dressed Attie's wounds once more. "We need to talk about what to do should the worse happens." Rubia said softly, "I don't think her body will accept a skin graft. If anything I worry that this is slowly killing her."

Lina closed her eyes as the thought once again arose that she could not go through this again. "Make a copy." She said.

"Mom?" Min said in shock.

"Make a copy. Have it ready in case we need to imprint her memories into it. Zel can do that." Lina said. "I'm not losing another child."

Min looked torn, "But what if Attie recovers? What will happen to the copy?"

"Attie will have a twin born thirty-two years after she was." Lina said decisively. "We'll take care of her."

"But what about that copy's consciousness that we'll just smother with Attie's?" Min asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Rubia said, "In the beginning I was a blank slate."

"Seconded." Zelgadis said. "Besides, that transfer happens as the copy is still developing. It was the scariest thing I'd ever done, but I was desperate to get out of that body. And Attie will not be able to survive in this one for much longer if this keeps up."

Min looked at Gourry, who hadn't tipped his cards either way. After a few minutes he said, "Do it."

"Shouldn't we ask Attie?" Min said hesitantly.

"Ask her if you want, but I'm going to insist Rubia move forward with this." Lina said. "Or do you want to lose another sister?"

"No." Min said decisively as she wiped tears away from her face.

"I'll just take a sample." Rubia said quietly, "It will take some time for the copy to mature enough to implant the memories. Hopefully she'll hang on till then."

* * *

Attie cried out as she woke up, causing everyone to gather around her bedside as Zelgadis grabbed her hand. "Where does it hurt?" he asked.

"Everywhere." She gritted, "That means something bad that it hurts this much, doesn't it?"

"It's going to be okay."

But Attie was not consoled as she said, "I don't want to die."

"You're not going to die." Lina said firmly, "We've got avenues we're pursuing, you are not going to die."

Attie cried for a few moments, "What do you have planned?"

Lina closed her eyes, "Nes should be here soon, and Min and Sylphiel are at the guild doing research. And if none of those pan out, then we're going to make a copy, and use the spell Zelgadis created to move you to that body."

"What?" Attie cried, "There has to be a better way!"

"Not unless you want to die." Lina said.

"But it will be like I did!" Attie said, "This body…" She stopped for a moment to collect herself as the pain became too much. "This body will die. Will I really even be me in another body?"

"I wondered the same thing." Zelgadis said, "And I'm still me, and happy to be out of a cursed body."

Attie squeezed her eyes shut as they heard the doorbell ring from the foyer. Rubia left to answer it as Lina said quietly, "Perhaps it would be best if I put you under a sleep spell again?"

"What if I don't wake up?" Attie asked, "I can handle the pain."

"Mr. Gourry," Rubia said as she came in followed by a man that Lina had never been so happy so see, "He says he's related to you."

"Nes." Gourry said as he went to hug his great-grandfather before quickly leading him to Attie's bedside, "You have to help Attie."

"What happened?" Nes asked, seemingly unperturbed by Attie's heavily bandaged state.

"Xellos hit her with some sort of fire spell." Lina explained, "The wounds haven't been healing, if anything they've been spreading. And she's in a lot of pain."

"I've never seen it, but I heard about this spell Xellos used during the Kouma War." Nes explained, "Even after the flames are extinguished it continues to slowly burn its victims alive. There's a spell to extinguish it. I'll perform it now."

"Thank goodness." Lina said as Nes started chanting and gradually Attie relaxed as the pain ebbed away. "Is that a spell that a human can do?"

"Yes," Nes said, "I'll teach you once I heal Attie, which I will do now that the fire is quenched."

Lina watched the empty place where Attie's arm once was as Nes started chanting a new spell. Yet it did not regrow. Was the damage too much? She felt nervous when Nes put his hands down and calmly asked Attie to remove her bandages, and then she felt her knees go weak with relief when she did to reveal that her skin at least had regenerated. There were faint hints of scars and her hair would have to regrow, but compared to the alternative, it was better than they had been expecting. "Can I have a mirror?" Attie asked.

Rubia gave her one, and as Attie looked at herself, and Lina could see that she was doing her best to contain her disappointment, "I guess it will have to do for now."

"Can we do anything about her arm and foot?" Lina asked.

"Yes, Uncle Milgasea taught me a spell to make a prosthetic. It will work just like her old ones." Nes smiled a little, "I can even put some gems in the prosthetic, boost your fire power a little."

"Really?" Attie said as she brightened, her concerns about her appearance halted, "Well, I was a bit down about these scars but the extra fire power will make up for it. Please tell me my hair will grow back."

"In time."

Attie smiled in relief, "Good, I'm not liking the bald look."

Rubia added, "Considering how lovely it was, I'm glad to hear it will grow back. You and Min really lucked out."

"My other sisters did as well. We got great hair thanks to our Dad." Attie said as Nes started crafting her a new arm.

"Did Dianna look a lot like you and Min?" Rubia asked.

"Yes." Attie said, "She was the tallest, but not even by a full inch. And her hair was straight like Min's, mine is the only one who grew out wavy. Other than that we could have been triplets."

The group chatted amiably as Nes worked, and Lina marveled at how the mood of the group had changed so drastically with his arrival. As always he brought hope and healing when he arrived. And perhaps they could even rope him into this new fight with the Mazoku race. Having a golden dragon at their side would be a big asset.

Finally Nes stopped and set an arm and a foot on the bed, "What do you think?"

"Wow, they look so real." Attie said.

"You won't even notice the difference." Nes said, "Here, I'll help you attach them."

Nes helped her put them on, and Lina wiped her eyes. It was such a relief to see Attie with her limbs again. No one would know they weren't real by just a casual glance at them. And she could still pursue her dreams.

"Let's try them out. Slowly." Nes said as he helped her out of the bed.

"It works just like my old foot. I even have a bit of feeling in it." Attie said, stunned.

"You want to go test the fire power in your new arm?" Zel asked.

"You're on." Attie said with a smile, "Just, give me a minute to get in something other than bandages."

"Don't overdue it." Lina cautioned.

"Yes, Mom." Attie said with forced patience before she went and threw her arms around Nes, "Thank you."

"I'm glad I can help."

Attie pulled away and then went over to hug her parents before she turned around and ordered, "Everyone, out of my room."

Lina shook her head as she filed out with Gourry and the others, and then once they were in the hallway she grabbed Nes and gave him a big hug, "Thank you for my daughter." She said as Gourry came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"She's my great-great granddaughter. I would have hated to lose her as well." Nes said.

"I'll take Attie to the testing grounds at the sorcerer's guild, and we can surprise Min and Sylphiel while we're there." Zelgadis said, alluding to the place at the guild where sorcerer's practice their big spells.

"And then we can decide what to do about Nigel." Rubia said.

"Rubia," Lina said, "What about the copy we were making?"

"Oh," Rubia said, "Really at this stage it's just purifying the sample. Making a copy is a long process just to even set up."

Lina nodded, "Scrape it, then. And tonight, we'll discuss Nigel."


	12. What We're Fighting For

"I hope Torisia didn't mind us calling you away," Gourry said to Nes as they sat down in the living room. Lina took a moment to debate whether she absolutely had to go to the bathroom right then and there and miss out on the conversation, or whether she could hold it until she was sure they weren't talking about anything of interest. In the end she decided that it could wait and she cuddled up with Gourry as Rubia took a seat on the other side of the room.

"Torisia?" Rubia asked.

"My wife," Nes explained, "And she was actually relieved to get me out of the cave so to speak. Since we started caring for our egg I've been scared to let it out of my sight!"

"But don't dragon eggs take years to hatch?" Lina asked as she did her best to ignore the growing pressure within her.

"Exactly. It's simply not possible to spend a few decades guarding an egg. Still, you must know how it is. When your child has been murdered it's hard to let any further offspring out of your sight. So I've been rather homebound and guarded lately. It's been driving Torisia mad and she's been begging me to visit some of my family."

"Well, when I think of how uncomfortable pregnancy is and how much its changed my body, being able to lay an egg and be done with it sounds so appealing." Lina mused as she struggled to control her bladder just a little bit longer. Still, after carrying and birthing five children, the hard truth was that she just couldn't hold it like she used to. "But I'd never thought of having to leave it. A baby is helpless enough as is."

"Fortunately nestled in Dragon's Peak there's no safer place for our egg to be." Nes said, "But I would have thought my daughter was safe from my grandson."

Gourry's hand moved from her shoulder to cover her own hand, and Lina reflected that at least her daughter hadn't been murdered by a family member. "It never really leaves you, does it?" Gourry said quietly.

A silence followed that was painful on multiple levels. And then, partly because she realized that she was close to breaking down in front of others, and partly because she was aware that one sneeze would leave her a soiled and embarrassed mess, Lina slowly got up and said, "Bathroom break, I'll be right back. Don't talk about anything interesting without me!"

"We won't," Gourry said as Lina left, and behind her she heard Rubia make her excuses, leaving Gourry alone with Nes. Lina walked to her bedroom, thankful that Rubia's mansion was nice enough to have the niceties of indoor bathrooms attached to several of the guest rooms that also afforded her a bit of privacy if she needed a minute to collect herself before rejoining the group. Especially as she was still feeling off kilter after nearly losing Attie.

Once she finished relieving herself, she walked back into her room and froze as she felt a tingle of bloodlust from behind her. A voice whispered in her ear, "If you want to avenge your daughter, meet me at the southern forest at midnight. Alone."

Before Lina, thankful that she had relieved herself before Xellos jumped up behind her, could turn around and kick his ass, the slippery bastard disappeared. Lina took a deep breath and attempted to sort through her racing thoughts. Of course it was a trap, and of course she was going to go. He hurt her daughter. That she did want to wipe his sorry smile off the face of the world was undeniable. But the fact that he also intended to kill her meant that she couldn't leave him alone to his devices. Not with that hanging over her.

No. The question was whether or not to bring the others in on this. After nearly losing Attie, she was rather reluctant to put any other loved ones in the line of fire. And that included Gourry. _And to say nothing of whether or not we're ever going to get around to tracking down Nigel_. _Xellos needs to die, but I would really like for Nigel to be someone else's problem._

Right before she reached the living room, she stopped as she could discern Gourry talking to Nes from within, "After Di died, you tried to tell me how you never get over the pain, you just get used to living with it. More and more I'm seeing you're right."

Nes was silent for a moment before he said, "Still, I'm in awe of how quickly you and Lina bounced back and had Luke. The thought of losing another child was so unbearable, it took a while for Torisia to get me to come around to the idea."

Gourry laughed a little, but it was devoid of mirth, "That was Lina's decision. I mean, it wasn't like I hadn't figured out what she'd done, that she was wanting another one. I'm glad she did it now, but at the time I couldn't bear the thought of bringing another child into this world and worrying if anything was going to happen to him. The only reason I didn't stop her was because, after losing Di, I also couldn't bear the thought of being opposed to Lina. After all this time together, after all we've been through together, I just can't not be together with her. Right or wrong."

 _Damn you Gourry,_ Lina thought as her hand folded around the piece of paper in her pocket.

"Something is weighing on you." Nes said quietly.

"Before you saved Attie. We'd talked about making a copy to save her. I may have agreed to something wrong if it would have saved Attie."

"Uncle Milgasea often talks about how, during the Kouma War, people would go to desperate lengths to save a loved one. Don't beat yourself up about it so much. You and Lina are still fighting the right fight."

Lina decided the time had come to make her entrance, "Exactly," She said as the men turned to look at her, "Because we have bigger problems now."

* * *

Zelgadis noticed how Attie tensed as they drew closer to the library. "It'll be okay." He said.

"My face just looks so different." Attie said as she stroked her cheek, and then pulled away at the feel of the scar tissue.

"I don't think you understand just how scared we were that we would lose you." Zelgadis said quietly as they entered the library. "No one is going to care about how you look."

Attie took a deep breath as they found the table that Min and Sylphiel were at and walked over to them. At first neither women looked at them, but as they drew closer and Attie managed to speak a greeting. Min nearly fell out of her chair at the sound of her voice. "Attie! I was so worried!" She shrieked as she got up and hugged her sister. "How?"

Attie returned the hug as she explained, "Nes swooped in and saved our family once again."

"Nes is here?" Min asked, proving that it was possible to brighten even more, "Is he staying?"

"For dinner at least." Attie said as Min's attention turn to the blue scarf that Attie had tied around her head to cover her baldness.

"It will be so good to see him! And it's so good to see you! Oh, Attie, this sure brings out your eyes, but you have no skill when it comes to arranging it. Let me fix this."

"Thanks." Attie said as she took a seat and let her sister work her magic, "I'm not good with this stuff."

"I'm so relieved that you have recovered so well." Sylphiel said as she started gathering her books.

"Me too." Attie said. "Thank you for the Resurrection spell."

Sylphiel smiled warmly, "You're welcome. I'm going to head back to Rubia's home. I'll see you at dinner. Bye."

Once Sylphiel had left, Min sighed. "Perhaps when we get home you should let me give you a makeover, do something about these scars."

"I really don't want to cake my face in makeup." Attie said, "I'm just hoping it will get better."

"You can take the natural beauty thing too far."

"Oh Min, we're all going to lose our looks as we get older. I just didn't expect the decline to be this sudden." Attie said even as she struggled to keep her tone upbeat. "Besides, if you're going to take the risks, you have to live with the scars."

"Just let me give it a try." Min insisted. "Pomona has invented some amazing products. It will make her so happy to know that you of all people are wearing it!"

"Can't exactly fix my face in the mirror every two minutes on the road." Attie said as a hint of irritation rose in her voice.

"Well this looks better." Min said as she stepped back to admire her work. "Though we may have to raid Mom's jewelry case when we get home. A gold chain or something sparkly will give this a nice touch. May be I'll even loan you my sapphire necklace."

"It's actually a good look for you." Zelgadis said, as he struggled to find something to say that wouldn't seem pitying. He remembered how he felt when people tried to tell him he wasn't a freak when he was a chimera. "And the blue does bring out your eyes. Not even the fire could dim those."

Attie's smile seemed a little force. Quietly Min asked, "What's the plan now?"

"Nes amplified my arm with some crystals. I'm going to test it out, then I guess we're having dinner." Attie said.

"I'll head over there to see Nes then." Min said, and then she leaned close to Attie, "Please be careful. You mean so much to me. I know Pomona and Luke are also my siblings, but I didn't grow up with them, and I'd already had children of my own when they were born. They feel more like my niece and nephew than my brother and sister. Losing you would have been like losing my surviving sister. So even if you're going to be stubborn about showing your natural beauty, I'm just glad you're here for me to bug about it."

Attie laughed a little as she squeezed her arms, "Me too. Be safe going home."

"You too."

"Shall we?" Zelgadis asked as he held his hand open to Attie.

She looked at him warily for a moment, "You don't have to do this."

"Do what?" he asked as she left the library and started walking to the sparring grounds, obviously annoyed when she had to slow down to avoid walking into the crowd of people navigating the guild.

"Keep whatever promises you made when you thought I was going to die."

He moved so he stood in front of her, "Hey, I made those promises because I was expecting you to live! When I was expecting it to be a lot worse!"

Her lower lip started to tremble as she wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the ground. His skin started to prickle as he felt the eyes of people passing through on them, and gently he grabbed her by the arm and guided her to the sparring fields, thankful that they were empty. He closed the door behind them and breathed in the fresh air as Attie walked forward a bit, moving so that he couldn't see her face as she started to cry. Zelgadis kept an eye on the door, ready to turn anyone who approached away. He wondered what Gourry would do, and felt torn between trying to comfort her and the awkwardness of not knowing how. What if she just needed some space?

Finally she took a breath, wiped her eyes and turned to look at him, "Thanks. And I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm taking this so hard, it's not like I ever put much care into how I looked, and it could have been a lot worse. You were being sweet."

"I do know a bit about what you're going through." He said matter of factly. "It's a lot to take in. I probably shouldn't pressure you right now. I'll back off until you know what you want."

She smiled, and then leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you."

Zel put his hand over his cheek, which seemed to tingle with electricity, as she went over to a shelf fill with round metal balls. The strength of a sorcerer's spell was tested by having sorcerers throw spells at metals with different chemical compositions and different melting temperatures. The higher the number, the more powerful the spell. "The highest I've ever been able to melt was an eight." Attie said as her hand hovered over NINE row. "Mom and Min could do a record level twelve! I bet Di could have too if she'd been allowed to study Black Magic."

"Back in the day I could melt a ten." Zel said as Attie grabbed a nine and placed it in the field.

"What's the best you can do now?" she asked as she rejoined him so that she was a good thousand feet away from her target.

"I thought we had a deal, I won't ask you your weight if you don't ask me what I can melt."

Attie laughed, a genuine laugh, which was refreshing to hear, "I'd forgotten about that! Fireball!" When the smoke cleared, Attie let out a squeal of glee as she saw the it was melted.

"I'll get you a ten." Zelgadis said.

Attie's joy grew as she melted the ten, and then the eleven. "Ready for a twelve?" Zelgadis asked as he grabbed the sole ball on the shelf.

Attie took a deep, nervous breath, "Very ready."

Zelgadis set it in the field and then went back to join her. Attie focused and chanted and released the spell, watching nervously as the smoke cleared, and then she started to scream jubilantly as she threw her arms around him, "I did it!"

Zelgadis was a bit stunned as she let him go and started jumping in the air excitedly, "Oh, next I'm going to try a Dragon Slave!"

"We'll have to go to the outskirts of town for that." He said, "You up for it so soon?"

Attie laughed a little, "I guess I should rest a bit. Plus, I need a refresher on the chant, which means talking to Mom. But still, I'm packing some fire power now!"

"No fears on getting back on the battlefield then." He noted as he felt relief at seeing her back to her usual self.

"When you fall off a horse you better get back on it as soon as possible." She said, "This is not taking me out of the game. Especially now that I have all this potential."

"Hey," he said, "Why don't I buy you a drink before we get back to Rubia's? To celebrate."

She touched her face again, and he said, "You're going to have to get used to being around people."

She nodded, "Hadn't thought about scaling that horse. You're right though. Let's do it!"

* * *

Sylphiel had only just returned and had sat down with Lina and the others when the doorbell rang again. Rubia sighed as she stood up again to go and answer it. "I guess we could have timed that better." Sylphiel said apologetically.

"Oh, I don't mind." Rubia said as she disappeared into the hallway, leaving them to discuss the situation with Xellos in low voices.

"Guess who I ran into on my way back from the guild!" Min sang from the hallway right before she entered the room with her arm wrapped around her oldest son, Orion, the relief of seeing her firstborn safe and unharmed evident on her face.

"Orion!" Lina and Gourry called as they rushed to embrace their grandson. "How are you?"

"Doing good," Orion said as a short young woman who Lina had never seen before came into view as she moved to stand beside him, "Surprised to find everyone here."

"Hell, we're surprised to be here ourselves." Lina said as she shook her head, "You look more and more like your grandfather with each passing year."

"Everyone should be so lucky." Gourry said as Lina elbowed him playfully before he turned his attention to the young woman. "Who's this?"

"Cassiopeia Night," Orion said, "We've been traveling together for about a year now. Cass, these are my grandparents. See, I told you Lina Inverse was my grandma!"

"Are you really Lina Inverse?" Cass asked, the awe evident on her face.

"The one and only." Lina said, "And fair warning, we're actually in a tough situation right now, so if you stick around, you will see action and could end up dead."

Cass blinked her dark eyes in wonder and curiosity, "Wow, well, I have seen a bit of action myself. Not to brag, but I'm starting to get a bit of a name in this world."

"Took down some mad sorcerer last week in Crimson City." Orion explained as he looked at Cass with a mix of affection and awe that was rather familiar to Lina. "After that she decided she wanted to see her grandfather. He lives in Atlas City and he's going to stop by later tonight."

Orion's expression turned to apprehension, and Lina smiled as she recalled how nervous Gourry had been when he met her folks. An eerie feeling of déjà vu rose within her, followed by the certainty that Cass would one day be a part of the family.

"Sounds good." Gourry said as he wrapped his arm around his wife.

"Wow," Orion said as his eyes fell on Nes, "I didn't notice you! This really is a big family reunion!"

Lina watched as Nes, Min and Orion said their hellos as everyone gradually settled into chairs, leaving Rubia's living room cramped but cozy. "So tell me about this sorcerer you took down." Lina said.

Cass started talking, interrupted by Orion every so often to smooth over a point, about some shady dealings in Crimson City, causing a sense of bittersweetness to arise within Lina. Crimson City had been beautiful, even if she'd never gotten to enjoy it with Gourry because the reasons they had gone there had been so tragic. Soon Rubia had gotten up to start on supper, and Cass stood up to leave, "I'll just go and fetch my grandfather. I'll be back!"

"Do you want me to come with you?" Orion asked as Sylphiel followed Rubia into the kitchen, asking if she needed a hand.

"Nah, he'll want to invite you in and show off his hospitality, and we wouldn't get back until way past midnight. Besides, I don't want to take you from your folks. I'll be back in a minute!"

After Cass left, Orion looked at Lina and Min, "You know what would be good, some of your famous chocolate chip cookies for dessert."

Lina eyed him warily, "You're not wanting to shove us to the kitchen so you and the men can talk shop?"

"We're not going to talk shop!" Orion said innocently, "But I would like to talk to Gramps alone for a minute."

Lina exchanged a knowing glance with Min, "Fine, one batch of cookies coming up, and the shop talk happens at dinner."

"Thanks Gramma." He said.

Lina reached up to ruffle his hair, and then walked with Min to the kitchen, just managing to overhear Orion ask Gourry as the door closed behind them, "Gramps, how do I move forward with Cass without messing it up?"

"What are you doing here?" Rubia asked.

"Baking cookies." Lina explained as she looked around the kitchen. "Where's the flour?"

Rubia smiled a little, "I didn't know you could do that."

"Cooking is a lot like brewing a potion really." Lina explained.

"That's true." Rubia said as she put a bin of flour in front of Lina, "I'll say, seeing Orion and Cass is like traveling back through time."

Sylphiel nodded in agreement, "I was thinking the same thing."

"Huh?" Lina said.

"Oblivious as always." Sylphiel said quietly.

"She's not oblivious." Min said, "She just likes having people spell it out for her."

"Watching Orion and Cass is just like watching you and Gourry forty years ago!" Rubia said.

"It is, isn't it." Lina said, as amazingly, with everything that was going on, the world suddenly seemed to feel right again. Sometimes her pain and grief was so burdensome she couldn't remember what she and Gourry had fought so hard for. Why had she fought so hard for the world to continue if it led to her losing her daughter? As Luke Shabranigdu had said, what was the point when everyone dies in the end?

But even if it did end, nothing could take away the adventures and the love that was shared during the journey. Nothing could take away the good memories she did have with Dianna. And if she and Gourry hadn't fought for so long and so hard, then Orion and Cass would never have had the chance to experience their own adventures. And if Lina did not continue to fight, then Orion and Cass' journey would end. As would those of her other children and grandchildren. And Lina could not let that happen.

"I'll be right back." Lina said, and she walked back over to the living room to find Gourry, who was talking to Orion and Nes.

"Hey," he said as she sat beside him and grabbed his hand.

"We're going to fight." She said firmly. "It's high time we track down Xellos and Nigel and put this situation to bed."

He smiled at her and reached out to stroke her hair, "Well what else is there to do?"

She squeezed his hand as she leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek, and then she got up to go back to tell Rubia about their new resolve when the doorbell rang. Lina stood in the hallway and watched as Rubia opened the door, only to feel a sense of puzzlement as the other woman froze when she saw who stood in it.

"You!" Rubia exclaimed, causing Lina to straighten. Cass was there, as was a man who Lina presumed to be her grandfather, who was staring at Rubia with the same look of shock that she was fixing him with.

"You were here?" the man, who did not look old enough to be a grandfather said.

Lina's eyes narrowed as Rubia smiled sadly, "You did well masking your presence."

"I didn't want to be found." He said, "But I guess with time all of our secrets are revealed. So you're the final seventh."

Rubia said calmly, "I'd always thought of you as the final one."

* * *

 **AN: This is going down in history as one of the hardest chapters I've ever had to write. Usually I have my first draft and it's crap, and the second draft I get it all cleaned up and posted. Sometimes I need a third draft. For this one? I lost count of how many times I had to edit it and delete massive amounts of it and restructure it and then realized it needed an additional scene or that I needed to cut a scene, etc, to get this right. So I am glad to be done with this chapter!**

 **That said, I finally know how this is going to end! It is in sight!**


	13. Acts of Love

_So much for going slow._ Zelgadis thought as he did up his pants while beside him Attie pulled her jacket on over her tunic, but she was not glowing from relaxed sense of bliss. As always after they had made love, her face was set and stony, and he was kicking himself. The pattern hadn't changed. What had started with a few drinks had turned to dancing, which turned into racing to find a secluded. And while she always seemed to enjoy herself during the encounter, as soon as it was over it was as though a switch had been flipped and she became argumentative. And from the look in her eyes as she grabbed her boots and pulled them on, this time was no exception.

He had been stupid to think that this would be different. Stupid to have gone along with it. But after spending decades as a chimera, in a body that would hurt anyone he took to bed and kept him isolated from the touch of others, he just couldn't stop himself. And for whatever reason, she never had any inhabitations about getting started, but she sure as hell harbored regrets, the nature of which she never deigned to explain, after the fact. No, the only information he got from her there was she was always angry after having sex and to not take it personally. It didn't help.

"Damn, my parents are probably freaking out." Attie said, an irritation tone to her voice, as she buckled her belt.

"Yeah, we'd better get you home." He said quietly as he tried to brush the leaves out of his hair. Neither had wanted to pluck down the cash for a room they were just going to use for a matter of minutes, and if they'd gone to Rubia's there would have been too many people to stop them. So they'd found a secluded spot in the woods.

Attie tried to straighten her scarf, "Next time I'm going to have Min teach me how to do this. Dammit!"

"It's fine." He snapped, as he started to wonder if she'd slept with him more from a need to prove she was still desirable than because of any feeling she'd had for him.

"Let's go." She huffed as she walked back towards town, and he followed her and noted that, judging by the stiffness of her posture, she was not in a mood to talk.

Gradually the woods faded away and buildings appeared. It was not so late that people still weren't milling about from place to place and the sun was still in the sky, even if it was low in the horizon. Attie's fast stride slowed for a moment, and Zel looked at her to figure out why and saw that she was staring at a woman who was playing with a baby, an inscrutable expression on her face. He watched them for a moment, the feelings of confusion strong as she looked away as if burned. Before he could weigh if it was a good idea or not, he moved beside her and said, "Look, I'm not trying to start anything or change your mind. I'm just wanting to understand. I know some women don't want children. Your Aunt Luna? No surprise there. But it doesn't make sense for you. I've seen you with Pomona and Luke and your nephews. I see you looking at pregnant women and babies like you were just now. It doesn't make sense."

She lowered her head and didn't say anything. Zel sighed as they turned onto the street where Rubia's house was, and when he glanced at her again he noticed that tears were welling in her eyes. "Attie?" he asked.

Suddenly she veered to a bench on the sidewalk and sat down and he joined her. She started to finger the material of her scarf as she said quietly, "I've never told this to anyone. And I don't want anyone else to know."

His eyes widened in surprise as his mind raced through various scenarios as he wondered what could be going on that was so bad that she kept it a secret from everyone, including her parents. Softly she continued, "It happened right after I became a woman, when my parents had taken me to the temple to stare at the Mother Goddess statue to think about womanhood and my place in the world or whatever. My one prophecy."

Prophecy? That was something he'd expect to strike someone like Min or Sylphiel, not the rough edged Attie. Still, it wasn't as though these things were logical. Attie stared off into the distance for a moment before she continued, "I know that just because a prophecy is seen doesn't mean it will happen in the future. But Zel, it was so detailed. I could see her so clearly. Beautiful strawberry blonde hair with a gentle curl and she had my eyes. I knew her name even. And while it wasn't an overwhelming resemblance in the face, there was enough of me in there to know she was my daughter. I saw her and fell in love with her, I wanted her desperately."

Zelgadis felt something nasty form in the pit of his stomach, "Why didn't you try to have her then?"

Attie squeezed her eyes shut, "Because of the long red shadow behind her. I knew she would be cursed like Di."

Her pronouncement winded him and he struggled to speak. Whatever he had been expecting, that was not it. His disgust rose to the point where it was difficult to draw breath as she continued, "I was so shaken. I went through a period of denial. It was mistake. It wasn't a real prophecy. And if it was, many prophecies never come true. I tried to shake it off. But that evening the nightmares started. I think only Min realized I was having them. We shared a room growing up. I just lied and told her I didn't remember what they were about. But they were horrible! I dreamt about carrying a being who was trying to kill me. Di made Mom tell her the whole gruesome details about being pregnant with her once. I saw it so vividly in the dream. Or I'd dream about being killed during childbirth like Mom nearly was. Other times I dreamt that I'd survived but that I would have to kill my baby, or my mom would have to. Sometimes I dreamt that I watched as she murdered my family in a fit of rage, helpless to do anything to stop her. Every fear my parents had about Di I dreamt about experiencing with her. And then one morning I woke up and I knew what I had to do. I had to travel. If I could locate the other hosts, I figured it might give me some peace of mind. If I knew they were alive and well, then I wouldn't have to worry about birthing a host myself. And if I never found them, well rather than leaving my legacy behind with children, I would have a legacy of Mazoku slain, like my mom. Pick up where she left off."

A sudden anger tore through Zelgadis as he listened and he felt himself start to shake as she continued, "I was only thirteen when I made up my mind about it. I was so young and stupid. I thought finding the hosts would be easy, and that I just wouldn't marry and have kids until they were found and accounted for, and perhaps, even destroyed. In the meantime I would focus on building my legacy. I didn't have time for boys. I convinced myself for a while that I didn't have any interest in them. I buried what desires I did have for companionship deep. The nightmares stopped. The prophecy couldn't come true if I don't sleep with anyone, right?

"But as I got older I couldn't control my desires so much anymore. Thank goodness for sterility spells. I cast mine and went about my life, had my one night stands, got it out of my system. Then when Min found that fertility statue I was so scared that I'd messed up and had gotten pregnant along with the rest of Zefiel City. But fortunately I just missed it. After that I was more careful. But still, anyone who was too serious, who I got too close to him I had to let go of him."

She suddenly turned to look at him as she grabbed his hand, and he felt as though her touch was burning him, "I don't want the burden of being a mother to someone cursed with Shabranigdu, how could I ask someone to be a father to that? Especially you, Zel. You were hurt so deeply by Rezo. I saw how you reacted when you learned about Di."

A surge of guilt flared within Zel as he remembered how poorly he had acted then as she continued, "I couldn't ask you to do this."

Zelgadis shook his head as he finally found his voice, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Attie closed her eyes for a moment, and then said, "When Di was alive, I didn't want to hurt her. I didn't want her to know the lengths I was going to avoid having a child who was cursed like her. On the one hand I think she'd understand, but on the other, I didn't want to set her off. And she was going through her first doomed pregnancy and it was just a horrible time for my family then. I couldn't bother them with me. And then after Dianna died, it just felt like saying I didn't love my sister. Because it wasn't that. It was that I didn't want my child to suffer like she had. But people hated Di so I thought they'd point at me and use it to justify the blood on their hands. It's so stupid. I don't know if that makes any sense."

"No," he said, his voice harsh as the anger continued to surge through him, "Why didn't you say anything to me? Why didn't you warn me that I could be fathering something like that?"

"No, you couldn't. Sterility spell." She moved as far from him as the bench would allow as her voice took a sharp turn.

"Pomona and Wally are evidence that those fail!" he said, "After what Rezo did to me, you…how could you?"

"I knew you'd react like this! How could I tell you?" she barely managed to keep from yelling, "I told you you didn't want to get involved with me! That first time, I warned you that there could be complications that would be wretched! What did you do, dismiss me as some young, naïve child? You told me you could never regret being with me and all those things that sound so nice. I broke up with you, but you tracked me down and asked to be let back into my life! And just yesterday you told me that you would regret being with me more than anything. Which is it, Zelgadis?"

He closed his eyes and put his hands over his face as he remembered how desolate he felt as he'd watched as Xellos' spell hit her. But she was not finished, "You told me you'd lost six years with me through your idiocy. You promised me that you would do anything to work it out with me! Or was it just talk? Well here's the moment of truth, would you have even touched me if you knew about the prophecy?"

Two sides warred within Zelgadis. The pain and anger he felt towards Rezo wrestled with his love for Attie. But the risk that there could be an accident loomed over him like a hanging sword even as the words that Gourry had said about commitment came back to him. Commitment was about being with the woman you love no matter where you end up. And here they were, with a strong incentive to not have children and a tremendous burden if they did.

"It would have taken me some time, but yes, probably." He sighed, "To be honest, Attie, I'm not sure if I'm mad at you, or so mad at the situation that I'm channeling it towards you. All this time I thought you just needed to grow up and mature a bit more but now…well, you had a good reason for arranging your life the way you have. I just…I need some time to let this settle."

"I see." She said in a clipped fashion.

"Attie, sterility spells fail. It may be wrong of me, but I don't know if I could do what your parents did and love a child the way that they loved Dianna if she had a shard of Shabranigdu within her. Especially as Di zeroed in on my hatred towards Rezo and knew all of the buttons to push to evoke those feelings of being hurt by him. If the prophecy were to be realized and I was the father, I honestly don't know if I could be the father that she would need for me to be!"

Attie's face set as she got up and started walking back towards Rubia's, "Fine, have it that way then."

Slowly Zelgadis got up and followed her, and some of the anger melted away into sadness as he wondered if he had just messed things up beyond repair with her.

* * *

Vincent took a bite of meatloaf, "Delicious." He said as he looked at Rubia and Sylphiel.

"Thank you." They said in unison as the rest of the inhabitants of the table stared at him curiously, with the exception of Cass. She stared at her plate, her fork raised but empty, looking lost.

"So, when did you find out about him?" Rubia asked.

A look of remorse washed through Vincent's face, and he looked at Cass apologetically. "It was after I had my daughter, Marjorie. Cass' mother."

Cass roused a bit and looked at him, "Am I finally going to hear your side to this story?"

"It's time." Vincent said quietly, "I hadn't expected to be a father. But I also was one of those types who couldn't stay away from a pretty lady, and Vera was the loveliest woman I had set eyes on. When she told me she was pregnant I couldn't deny I was the father, even if it meant an end to my philandering. I was going to do the right thing. So Vera and I got hitched settled down and Marjorie soon came along. Everything was fine for a while."

Vincent set his fork down as a pained expression crossed his face, "All my life I've had a temper. My mother said it was hell carrying me and hell bringing me into this world and hell raising me, but at least I was charming when I wasn't enraged, and the charm almost made up for it." He smiled sadly, "I thought that becoming a father would have calmed that rage. I never thought I would hurt Marjorie. I loved that little girl and dotted on her the first few years of her life. It was when Vera got pregnant again and wasn't doing well that things started to fray. I was overwhelmed with working, caring for Vera and Marjorie, who was at a difficult age. Toddlers, you know. One day I was trying to get her dressed to take her to her grandparents, and Marjorie just refused, and somehow she managed to push all my buttons. I got so mad I threw her across the room. She landed on the toy box and broke her arm. Barely avoided hitting her head. I could have killed her then and there."

Sylphiel put her hand over her mouth as Lina watched Vincent carefully. When he continued, his voice was taunt, "After I got her to a healer, I was so scared I would do it again that I ran to the temple. A priest found me, and he saw me for what I was and told me about the being within. And that's when I learned that I was a vessel for the Dark Lord, and would have to spend the rest of my life vigilant against him."

"How did you do that?" Lina asked.

"With a lot of help from the priest. First to accept the burden I was carrying. He worked with me, taught me how to meditate and control my emotions. I gained so much control that I thought I would be okay if I went back to my family. But Marjorie was so mad at me. It wasn't that I threw her, but that I had left her and her mother. She'd felt like she'd been abandoned. Especially with the new baby and Vera not having much time for her as she used to. Once again, she knew how to push every button, and I just felt the control I'd gotten slip. I don't even remember what she said now, but I slapped her so hard she fell to the ground. After that I realized I couldn't be with them, that the best thing I could do for them was to keep away. I sent Vera every cent I could. Bought gifts. Marjorie sent the gifts back. She never forgave me. I kept my eye on them, but from a distance."

Cass reached out and put her hand over his, and he put his other hand over them both and squeezed them for a moment before he continued, "I focused on work and meditation, and I reconciled myself to loneliness. I kept tabs on Vera and my girls, but never got too close. I watched as Marjorie grew up and got married, and had a little girl of her own. And then I watched as Cass grew up. And then one day Cass showed up on my doorstep, wanting to know who I was and why she'd see me watching them from time to time."

"And you told me that little girls would do well to stay away from old men who are stalking them." Cass said teasingly. "But I'd never sensed malice from him, just caring. So I wanted to know when he was always in the background."

"So I told her that I'm her grandfather, and that her mother wants nothing to do with me and I don't blame her. Never went into the details. Amazingly Cass kept coming back to visit me. In the meantime, I just try to keep a low profile and meditate."

Everyone was silent for a moment until Cass said with a wry smile, "Well, Mom pushes all of my buttons, and I don't have a shard of Shabranigdu in me. So we have a lot in common."

"Which side do you want to be on here?" Lina asked.

"I'm not taking sides." Vincent said. "I just want to be left to live in peace and to die in peace."

"I'd had a plan to put us all into extended sleep." Rubia said.

"You're going about it the wrong way." Vincent said. "If we're asleep we can't defend ourselves. But by keeping vigilant and through meditation and avoiding the world as much as possible, we can lead peaceful lives."

"But isn't defending ourselves and living peaceful lives at odds?" Rubia protested.

"Look, there's a reason the Mazoku race doesn't approach me." Vincent said, "There's a reason only Dynast was foolish enough to try to find us after Hellmaster helped revive the Demon Lord of the North until that Nigel brat came around. Because when the Mazoku race has multiple masters, it fractures them. They start fighting amongst themselves rather than fighting to end the world."

"That's true." Lina said contemplatively, "We saw it when Luke Shabranigdu was active. Perhaps we haven't been taking full advantage of this opportunity? If Rubia gives Deep Sea Dolphin one set of orders while Vincent gives Greater Beast a different set, and with Nigel doing whatever the hell he does, the Mazoku race would spend so much time fighting amongst themselves that they wouldn't have time for us."

"At the same time, these wars can go on for years. Decades. Lives are already being lost because of the uptick in demon activity because of the confusion over Nigel versus the Demon King of the North." Min pointed out, "It's in our interest to see this resolved as soon as possible."

"Which would mean taking down Nigel and staying out of it. Back to stalemate." Lina admitted, "We can't let him continue like this. We have to destroy the part of Shabranigdu that's in him. If Nigel dies without fully embracing him then Shabranigdu will be reborn into a host where Shabranigdu has only more power and control. The problem is that when we defeated Rezo and Luke, both of them had parts of them that wanted to see the world continue. I'm not sure that Nigel does."

"All the same, with two other people with shards of Shabranigdu and a golden dragon as well as Min, you have a lot more firepower." Sylphiel said quietly.

"One person." Vincent said, "I won't fight. Like I said, I am staying out of this."

"We won't force you then." Lina said quickly, "You've already helped us out a lot with your observation."

"But…" Cass started.

"Given what he's told me, he struggles with controlling the rage. Being around violence will only make it more difficult for him to control it, and that could be the spark that sends him from fighting Shabranigdu to embracing him." Lina explained. "Rubia seems to have merged with hers a bit and has more control over the rage. For her the human has more control."

"I can handle it." Rubia agreed.

"Before we get to that, we have to focus on what we're going to do tonight with Xellos." Lina said, "It's a trap, of course. But he should be wily enough to know that I would know it's a trap, which is what concerns me."

"So we're splitting up?" Min asked.

"Yeah. I think I'll head into the forest first. Gourry and a few others can follow me from a distance so I appear alone. I think Rubia should be with me. Meanwhile I think Min and Nes should hold the fort down here. And where are Attie and Zel?" Lina demanded to know.

"They're probably getting drink somewhere." Min said consolingly, "Attie looked like she needed one."

Just then the doorbell rang, and Rubia when Rubia went to answer it, they could hear Attie and Zel in the hallway. Lina relaxed a bit as Rubia returned, "They're just going to wash up. I hope they didn't get into a fight. They look a bit roughed up."

"Did they say anything?" Min asked.

"No, though they both seemed a bit aggravated."

"Maybe I should check on her?" Min asked as she looked at Lina.

But Attie and Zel appeared then, and Min asked, "Was there a fight?"

"Huh?" Attie said as she blushed, "How did you know?"

"Are you okay, were you attacked?"

"What?" Attie said as she took a seat beside Orion, "No, no, nothing like that. Just personal drama. Hey nephew, what are you doing here?"

Lina observed Attie as Orion started filling her in. Whatever was going on between the two of them, she would talk to Attie about it later. And give Zel a good punch in the face, because Lina was certain he deserved it.

"The final seventh is here!" Attie exclaimed as she searched the table and found Vincent.

"Considering I'm the oldest of the hosts, I wouldn't exactly call myself the final seventh." Vincent said.

Zelgadis looked at Attie meaningfully as she shook her head in disbelief, "I'd made it my life's work to find you, and you just waltz in one day."

"I guess you're going to have to find some new life work, Aunt Attie." Orion said.

Attie shook her head, "Shouldn't be too hard." She started fingering her scarf again, "Wow, now that this is done I'm not sure how I feel."

"We'll work through the feelings later." Lina said, "Back to tonight and Xellos. Attie needs to rest here for the night, recover her strength."

Attie gave a grimace. "But I have all this new fire power! I can melt a twelve now!"

"Another night." Lina said, "Besides, if they do attack here, then we will need your firepower here."

Attie sighed and shook her head, but cut into her meatloaf without another word. Meanwhile, Cass piped up, "Can we go with you?"

Lina looked at them warily, "This is very dangerous."

"We can handle it." Orion said.

"Can I talk you out of it?" Min asked.

"No." Orion said, "Besides, Gramma is going to have to teach us how this stuff is done if she ever wants to retire."

"That's actually a good point." Lina said contemplatively as Attie looked at Orion with a hint of jealousy that was strange to see on her features, "We need Sylphiel with us, though. We need someone who can cast Resurrection at both locations."

"Of course." Sylphiel said.

"Any other objections or suggestions?" Lina asked, but no one said anything. "Stay vigilant. Don't let your guard down. Xellos is up to something, and that something is not good."

"I'm going to head on home," Vincent said as he got up, "Thank you for the wonderful supper. I was good meeting all of you. Best of luck."

"You too," Lina said.

* * *

 _Where is that evil bastard?_ Lina wondered as she waited by a tree. The rest of the group was a ways back, out of sight but not out of hearing. And it was well past midnight. A fact which made Lina nervous. Xellos should have been here by now. From down the path Lina heard movement, causing her to tense but then relax as Gourry and the others came into view.

"He's not here?" Gourry asked.

"No." Lina said.

"Do you think he's attacking Rubia's?" Orion asked.

"Perhaps." Lina said, but her gut was telling her that something different was happening. Her eyes fell on Cass and a feeling of unease grew as the wind picked up and seemed to whisper a name.

"Do you hear that?" Gourry asked.

"It sounds like the wind is saying 'Vincent.'" Rubia observed.

"It's not the wind. It's Xellos." Lina said, "What if they found out about Vincent?"

"Huh?" Cass said.

"Xellos is smart enough to not want to serve more than one master." Lina shook her head is dismay, "Cass, where does he live? Take us there now!"

Still looking confused, Cass started leading them out of the forest, "What is this about?"

"I should have thought of this when Vincent was at dinner." Lina said regretfully as they raced through the forest and into town, "It's tactics. If we get the hosts of Shabranigdu to divide the Mazoku race to conquer itself, then to defend itself the Masoku race would need to assassinate the hosts and get them into bodies too young to have the maturity to divide them. And they would start with the weakest, the least guarded among them. Which would be Vincent."

"But Mazoku can't attack someone higher than them." Orion pointed out.

"Xellos might not, but if he has Nigel with him, then yes, he can." Lina said.

"No!" Cass cried as she started running faster, the others hot on her heels. They eventually got to a small house, and to confirm Lina's suspicions, the door was slightly ajar. Cass burst through it and screamed.

"Lightning!" Lina called, and then she wished she hadn't. Blood was everywhere, and Vincent was lying on the floor in a pool of it. Cass reached him first and turned him over to look at her. Amazingly he was still alive, and he reached a hand up to stroke his granddaughter's cheek as he whispered, "I love you."

Cass shook her head, "Stay with us!" But already he had gone limp.

"Stand back." Sylphiel told Cass as she cut through the small crowd, "I need space if I'm going to be able to save him."

Orion had to pull Cass away from Vincent as she started sobbing and he held her close while Lina and Gourry searched the place. But whoever had done this was long gone. Eventually they watched as Sylphiel tried to restart his heart with chest compressions, but eventually shook her head. "I'm sorry, Cass."

But as Cass started to sob, her cries became distant, as Lina felt herself being pulled away with a loud popping sound. "Huh?" Lina said, as she looked around to find herself in a different space, separated from the others. A place that was stark and barren and devoid of help. Her stomach twisted as she realized that Xellos' trap had finally been sprung.

"Hello, Lina." Xellos said as he suddenly appeared before her.

Lina shook her head, "You're not even going to let me have my partner with me, huh."

"I've been ordered to kill you and you alone." Xellos said. "Shall we?"

Lina smiled wryly, "To the death it is then."


	14. To the Death

Lina started chanting like she never had before as Xellos said, "You know, given how long my lifespan is compared to yours, and especially given how, despite your powers, you've not exactly pursued methods to extend your life, I was content to wait until you had expired on your own before pushing any big plans to further my agenda. It's unfortunate that this had to come up."

Suddenly the corkscrews erupted at her. How many times had those featured in her nightmares? She'd always known in her bones that it was a matter of time before Xellos turned on her. And that time had come. Had she prepared enough?

She managed to dodge and had just enough time to finish chanting, "Golden Sphere!"

"What?" Xellos said as spell emanated from her, forming a sphere around her before expanding in all directions, making it impossible for him to dodge. It was one of those spells she had deemed impractical for use in the real world where an innocent could easily get caught up in it, but in this different space where the only other person who inhabited it was her enemy? It was perfect. Her time researching Chaos Magic was finally paying off and proving their utility in battle.

Xellos gasped as the spell hit him full on, but it only seemed to temporarily knock the wind out of him as he sent another corkscrew attack in her direction before she had time to chant another spell. In a fluid motion she drew her sword and swung it at Xellos' spell in the way she'd observed Gourry do so often, breathing a sigh of relief as the sword absorbed it. Xellos cocked his head as she did. Lina smiled wryly, "We figured you were up to something. So we decided I should keep the Sword of Absorption with me. Just in case."

She released his spell back at him, but he dodged it easily, coming up behind her to launch another attack. Of course, that was the plan. Hit her hard and hit her fast. He would keep her on the defensive without time to chant a spell until she either messed up or he did.

Before she could chant, he'd attacked again, using the same wretched fire spell that had mutilated Attie so. She absorbed it, and tried not to focus on how much she missed having someone around to distract her enemy for a bit while she broke out the big spells. And he knew full well that he couldn't give her a lot of time to react. She released the spell back at him. He dodged and then he quickly threw another one at her. And so they continued in that pattern, back and forth, neither one gaining ground or losing it until he'd thrown another fire spell at her and then he managed to move so swiftly he closed in before she had time to release the spell and launched the corkscrews at her.

She cried out as she jumped away, but one managed to tear through her upper leg, rending the flesh, though thankfully not to the bone. She gritted her teeth as she did her best to ignore the pain as he continued to come after her, and she released his fire spell back at him as he attempted to maneuver the corkscrews to her. The good news was that he was so close he couldn't avoid the fire spell.

The corkscrews clipped her again, but vanished as Xellos was hit, leaving pinpricks of wounds throughout her body. But Lina was not the only one who was wounded. Xellos cried out and disappeared under the flames, but she knew better than to believe that she had got him. For one thing the different space was maintained and Xellos, like all Mazoku, could leave a decoy body behind while retreating to the astral plane. She took a deep breath and worked on focusing on her senses rather than her pain and fear to determine where he would attack from next even as she did start chanting furiously. From behind was a popular maneuver, but Xellos would know that she would expect that. So if not from behind, where?

The top of her head started to burn, and she looked up and saw him appear. She dove, sliding on the ground to avoid it, but his corkscrew attack managed to clip her right foot, breaking the bones. Lina cried out as she pulled her leg from the line of fire, but before she could get a good read on how hurt she was, she ended up bringing her sword up again to absorbed another corkscrew attack. She released it back at him, and it was a good thing she did, for he threw another fire spell at her, and their spells collided resulting in a riveting explosion, the result of which showered both of them in toxic ashes.

It stung. But it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. But for Xellos it was worse. By some indecipherable law of physics, the fire had continued in his direction while the corkscrews had dissipated, causing the spell to hit him full blast and leaving him more wounded by the exchange.

 _How's that for a taste of your own medicine!_ Lina thought as she chanted quickly while reflecting mournfully that even that did not seem to be enough to kill him, even if he was obviously wounded. But the fact that he was not yet dead was made clear as he hurled another fire spell back at her, which, given how much her body hurt now, she barely managed to twist in time to absorb.

He moved towards her as she pushed herself up to a kneeling position on her knees to give herself some height without putting any weight on her leg. "Ragna Spear!" she cried as she somehow managed to leap at him with her good leg, but because her balance was off she ended up stabbing him in the stomach and not his upper torso as she had intended. He hissed as she started to pull the spear up, hoping at least to immobilize him so he couldn't retreat to the astral plan again as she somehow managed to bring the Sword of Absorption up with her other hand.

As she did, he released the corkscrews into her. She could feel them tearing into her abdomen as they glared at each other as her spell continued to cut him. "I always had a feeling we would take each other down if we ever were to battle face to face like this." Xellos said, his voice a bit shaky as an oily black tendril of blood ran down his mouth.

The corkscrew attack seemed to be dying down as his power was waning. Heck, that he was wounded was likely the only reason she had survived it in the first place, and as it was, it had to be one of the most painful experiences she had ever endured. She coughed up a blood clot and spat it at him, though she no longer had the voice to say it, she thought, _speak for yourself, I'm going to survive this!_

And with that she released his fire spell back into him, the power of which hurled her backward. She landed roughly and felt torn between the instinct to clutch at the gaping hole in her stomach and the necessity of chanting another spell. She couldn't relax her guard but she also couldn't allow herself to bleed to death! Lina could feel her heart beating in her ears as she stayed alert and silently pleaded to return to where she had been pulled from. She somehow managed to force herself back up to a kneeling position again, even though the damage to her stomach made it excruciatingly painful to do it. But if she stayed on her back she was dead. And as the time passed her fears appeared to be warranted. Xellos, after all, had been granted more power than most Mazoku. Her heart sank as it looked as though a Ragna Spear combined with his own fire spell turned against him was not enough to destroy him.

She forced herself to chant. She could feel the blood pouring out of her and she realized she wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. Stomach wounds were never good. She needed healing now, but she also knew that she was going to need more than a recovery spell. And that final sprint to take Xellos down was as much as she was sure her injured leg could take. She didn't have it in her for another fight! But then, perhaps his plan was to wait for her to die from her wounds while in this space.

She laughed, even as the blood foamed from her mouth, "What of your pride, Xellos? Too chicken to deal the final blow yourself?"

"Hardly." He said as he materialized. She was satisfied to see that he at least looked as beaten as she did. Large parts of his body were gone, giving him the surreal look of a jigsaw puzzle with too many missing pieces. Lina wondered how much fight either of them really had in them left as she raised her sword defensively.

But he made no move to attack. Instead he looked at her steadily and asked, "Has your need to avenge your daughter been sated?"

"Excuse me?" Lina asked.

"If it makes you feel better, you wounded me more than even Gaav was able to." Xellos said as his voice wavered ominously, but as always, Lina was not sure if she should believe him. "We could continue this to the bitter end and likely kill each other. Or we could call a truce."

"Don't take me for a fool." Lina said, "You don't have the wiggle room."

"Oh, but I do. Lord Nigel ordered me to kill you. Lord Rubia ordered me not to kill you. Whoever I choose to follow is my choice."

"Then why choose Rubia?" Lina asked.

"Because I don't agree with Lord Nigel killing the other hosts. It does not align with my plans."

"And you think Rubia is going to help you?" Lina asked.

"No. But so long as I have the ability to form whichever alliances are the most conducive to my goals, I will." Xellos explained.

Lina felt dizzy and realized that if she was going to make it out alive, she was going to have to wrap this up soon. "Why are you letting me in on this?"

"Because I need my race to believe you killed me while I lay low." He said, "Don't tell anyone that you didn't. Nigel has ears everywhere."

"And what do I get from this?" she asked.

"My assistance in taking Nigel down." He said.

"The hell you will." Lina said as her distrust of him rose, "Golden Sphere!"

The different space dissolved away, and Lina wasn't sure if it was because she managed to kill Xellos or he let her go, and Vincent's place materialized in its place. "Lina!" a chorus of voices yelled, and suddenly she was surrounded. She felt Gourry's hands on her shoulders.

"Lina are you okay?" he asked desperately as he helped lay her gently on the floor, inhaling sharply as he saw her wounds.

She heard Sylphiel cry, "Stay back." Before she started chanting a Resurrection spell.

Lina slowly started to relax as she let herself slide into unconsciousness. Now that help was here, she would live to see another day. She would worry about whether or not she had nailed the bastard later.

* * *

 _Such a quiet evening_ , Zelgadis reflected as he sat in the living room with Min and Nes, who were talking quietly about Min's worries over Orion's safety while Attie slept on the couch. Between traveling with such a large party and then growing into an even larger party as they stayed at Rubia's mansion, such quiet was rare these days and Zel tried to take advantage of it to catch up on some reading. Only his own anxieties were preventing him from focusing on the novel.

Zelgadis' worries were about pure hypothetical matters and could bes. He felt pulled in two opposing directions, between worrying that he had been wrong to blow up at Attie and his all consuming terror over the slightest chance of fathering a child with a shard of Shabranigdu. That Attie hadn't trusted him enough to tell him for so long also angered him. The final twist was meeting Vincent that evening. If finally seeing that all of the hosts had been found had changed her mind about anything, she had not expressed it. Not that they'd had any time to talk about it. After dinner she merely said she was tired and went to lay down on the couch to sleep. But then did finding Vincent even make a difference if he and Attie couldn't trust each other?

Once more he thought of Amelia. While Attie hadn't lied to him, she also hadn't told the full truth. She kept secrets, big secrets. Amelia would have never done that. It wouldn't have been just. Amelia would have let him know from the start and they would have figured out the best way to handle it together. Things would have been so perfect with Amelia, and not for the first time he wondered why that special type of relationship had not occurred twice for him. Especially given how long lived he was.

 _If only the timing hadn't been wrong._

Min's words suddenly cut through his thoughts, "I'm so glad you're here, Nes. Sometimes Saillune is so unbearable. Whenever I talk about how scared I am for Orion with Queen Amelia she just blathers on about how justice triumphs or some other ridiculous notion and just makes me feel my concerns are so silly. I miss having people around who get it." She chuckled a little, "Goodness, she should get it considering how many trials she's been through."

Something about Min's words hit him like a slap in the face. And that something was how true they were. Amelia did have a rather annoying tendency to see roses when everyone else saw shit. And something about it could feel patronizing and minimizing. In fact, it made opening up to Amelia rather difficult because of it. He shook his head as he wondered how he had forgotten that.

"For some people thinking about the worst case is so scary that they have to wear masks to avoid confronting it." Nes explained, and Zelgadis did have to admit that Attie at least never balked from calling a bad situation what it was. And then it occurred to him that he really could not even have been sure that Amelia would have told him about the prophecy if she had witnessed one like it. No, Amelia just as likely would have concluded that she was so pure, good and just that it would never happen to her and carry on as usual, forcing the prophecy to come true due to her negligence. Attie, at least, took the threat seriously and took precautions.

Perhaps Amelia wasn't as perfect as he remembered, nor Attie as fatally flawed as he sometimes thought. But then, when he wasn't with Attie, he tended to place her in that same category of perfection that he did Amelia when he was with other women.

 _After all this time, you still want what you can't have_ , he thought wistfully as he remembered the struggles he did have with Amelia, but at the time he never thought too much of it because there was no future for them. There was the search for the cure. It wasn't until he had separated from her and they'd each gone on their different paths that he had started to idealize what they had. No other woman could come close. Until he met Attie, and even then she was a distant second, something he'd always suspected that she felt. But then when he wasn't with Attie all he could think about was being with her.

And here they were in the same pattern. He had told Attie he would be with her no matter what, and she'd finally confided something to him that she'd not confided to anyone. It could have opened the door to a new sense of closeness between them and could have led to her committing to him. But he had pushed her away. He simply seemed unable to love a woman when she wasn't perfect. And if he was going to be that way about it, then he truly was going to spend his life alone!

Suddenly he wanted to take a walk to think this through, but given the circumstances he couldn't. And he soon found himself distracted by Min once again as she said, "Seems like everyone in Saillune does it. We were so lucky to find positions where we could maintain the lifestyle we were accustomed to after leaving Zefiel City, so on the one hand it seems wrong to complain. But life in the palace has not been easy. I miss our own home so much."

Zel recalled how surprised he'd been when Min's husband, Drake, had stuck with her after Dianna was revealed to hold Shabranigdu, even though Min had kept it secret from him. And the consequences for Drake had been more drastic than they had been for Zel, who had not fathered that dreaded child. They'd had to uproot their family and leave for a place where they were foreigners. The move had also taken Drake away from his parents and brothers, as well as their friends. He had had to give up a lot for Min. But then when he had asked Drake about it, he merely said that Min had stuck with him through his own stupidity and he wasn't going to abandon her and his boys because she was protecting her sister.

As Min continued to complain about palace life, Zelgadis contemplated on how Gourry was right when he said that much as he may love someone, he failed at committing to them. He looked over at Attie and resolved to make it up to her in the morning, and to do what he could to make it work if she would give him another chance. After all, it was a two way street, wasn't it?

"I see them coming!" Min screeched as she pointed to the window before she got up and ran to the door to open it. Soon there was a lot of voices in the hallway, rousing Attie, who slowly sat up as people started filing into the living room.

"Was there a fight?" she asked as she got up and gave her mother a hug, glancing in horror at her mother's torn and bloodstained clothes as she sat in a chair, looking exhausted.

"Yeah." Lina said as Orion guided Cass, who appeared to be in shock, to a chair. "They went after Vincent. Nigel must not have gone too far and attacked him. He didn't make it."

Rubia came into the room with some brandy and started dispensing it as a hand clutched Zelgadis's heart as he asked, "But why attack Vincent?"

"They realized what we did, that having multiple hosts with Shabranigdu meant multiple orders and the division of the Mazoku race." Lina said as the personal implications settled for Zelgadis. Namely, even if they found where Vincent's host was reincarnated, it would still be too dangerous to try to have a child with Attie. Given the lives they lead, a host could die suddenly. He could see it unfolding now so easy. They remove the sterility spell one evening knowing that all of the hosts are alive and well, make love, and then wake in the morning to find one host had been killed in the night and that their child's fate was sealed. Unless all of the pieces of Shabranigdu were destroyed, he would never be able to have a child with Attie without the worry of having her tainted.

"So are they going to go after Rubia? Or Charlie?" Attie asked.

"With my Sis, I'd say Charlie is so well guarded they wouldn't dare. Besides, he's so young he couldn't divide them yet. They'd likely wait for us to get complacent." Lina explained as she downed her brandy.

"So it's me they'll come after next." Rubia said contemplatively.

"In that case, we'd better get away from Atlas City." Zelgadis said.

Lina nodded, "Head some place secluded, so we can use our big spells. Nigel will follow us, I'm sure of it."

"And Xellos?" Min asked.

"She did it again." Orion said proudly, "Xellos pulled her into a different space, and she killed him."

"By the skin of my teeth." Lina said flatly as Gourry patted her on the shoulder, still looking shaken.

"Wow, I can't wait to tell the other golden dragons." Nes said in admiration.

"Don't." Lina said sharply, "Not until this is over. I mean, I guess I have so many targets on me what's one more…except that it is one more."

"Do you think we can wait till morning?" Sylphiel asked, "You need to rest."

"I think we can wait." Lina said, and as Zelgadis watched her he wasn't sure if she really thought it was wise to wait or if she was simply too tired to leave at the moment, "But we set out first thing tomorrow."

"Fortunately we have so many guests we're going to have to double up." Rubia said.

"I can take a watch." Gourry said, and a few other people chipped in.

"Right then." Lina said as she got up. "We leave tomorrow."


	15. The Path Forward

Zelgadis had thought he'd managed to wake up earlier than everyone else. Until he got into the kitchen and saw Attie making a cup of tea. "You're up early." He said.

Attie barely looked up from her cup as she said, "Min and I couldn't sleep so we worked on some Chaos Magic spells. We just stopped for breakfast."

He sighed as he noticed how guarded she looked, as if braced for another fight, "Honestly I was trying to beat you here. I figured I owed you breakfast for being an ass yesterday."

She relaxed a bit but still did not say anything as he continued, "Look, we'll deal with what comes. Whatever comes. I'm not going to quit on us."

"I don't know Zel." She said, "With this just hanging over our heads? You should move on, and I should just recommit myself to celibacy."

"Hey, you have a right to companionship as much as anyone else." He said as he started making his own cup of tea.

"I have my family and friends." Attie said, "I can hardly say that I'm alone. I'm okay with it, really. Sometimes that itch comes on strong, and I regret it after, but I can get better at it."

"Damn, Attie, I really regret how I acted now." He said as he picked his cup up.

"It's not that, Zel." She said irritably, "I don't even know why I told you. After everything that happened yesterday I guess I was feeling even more stupid than usual. Look, I don't talk to people about Corentina, not even my mother. It's just very personal and I shouldn't have told you. Let's just let it be."

Zelgadis felt his grip on his cup falter and barely managed to keep a hold of it as he repeated, "Corentina?"

"Oh," she said, looking a bit embarrassed as she took a sip of tea, "Her name. It's strange, before the prophecy I could have sworn I had never heard it. I keep expecting to find it on my travels as some sort of warning sign for people or places to stay away from, or times when I absolutely must be celibate, but it hasn't happened. It's a lovely name, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." He agreed as he sat the cup down as a sense of doom crept upon him, "It was my mother's name."

"What!?" Attie exclaimed.

"I'd always thought, if I had a daughter, I would name her after my mother." Zelgadis said as he felt sick and struggled once more with the anger.

Attie shook her head as she said sadly, "That settles it then. It's a warning of what will happen if we continue together, isn't it? A sign that this is not meant to be."

Zelgadis was silent for so long as he struggled with his emotions that Attie nervously said, "Maybe I should just go."

"Don't." He said suddenly as he took a breath and conceded, "You can drive yourself crazy with prophecies. What if you had the vision because you were with me? Perhaps I'm just doomed to have a cursed child regardless of who I'm with and this was warning you against me."

She looked at him, stunned, as though she had never considered that. Zelgadis sighed, "We could try so hard to avoid this and end up walking right into it. It's what happened when Sylphiel had that prophecy regarding your mother and a spell that could destroy the world. And things turned out okay. So rather than fighting it, perhaps we should embrace whatever comes."

"But just yesterday you said you wouldn't be able to love a child who was a host because of all that Rezo had done to you. No child should grow up without her parent's love. I mean, you say you want to embrace whatever comes, but can you really do that?"

Zelgadis sighed, and started gathering items he needed to make breakfast. Finally he said, "Perhaps it's a sign that I need to work on forgiving Rezo rather than just moving forward and forgetting him as much as possible."

"Something like that is easier said than done." Attie pointed out.

"I know." He said as he grabbed her hand, which was shaking. "I want to make it work with you. Even if we never have kids, or if there is an accident and we do have one who is a host, well, at least I have time in advance to know and prepare for this, rather than being surprised when the baby arrives. And in either case, I want to be with you and to make it work. Whether it's just the two of us or whether Corentina arrives. Because if Corentina is in the future, you are the only woman I know who was raised with someone like her as a sister, making you the best woman to go through something like this with. So it's fortunate that I love you as much as I do and that even in the worst case scenario I'll win if you'll have me."

She continued to stare at him as though her brain had melted. "I'll give you some time." He said as he made to leave the kitchen but was stopped when she suddenly reached for him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I don't think I knew how much I wanted to hear you say that until you did." She said.

He smiled as he wondered if he was finally getting this romance thing right. But before he could do anything else the door opened and Rubia walked in. "Oh," she said as she saw them, "I'll give you a minute, but everyone is waking up, so…"

"So." Zelgadis echoed as Attie let go of him, "Thanks."

They looked at each other and laughed a little, then she said, "You know, those pancakes you make would be really good right now."

"Then they are on their way." He replied as soon people started filtering into the kitchen to either help with breakfast or to gather food for the journey.

When they all set down for breakfast, the tension was so thick that the usual conviviality and conversation was absent. Lina wasn't too surprised. Nothing caused sleeplessness nights and tight lips like the knowledge that they would soon be facing a dreaded enemy. Yet she started to become aware that people kept looking at her as if they were wanting something, and she was at a loss as to what it was. Then, in a fit of nerves, Cass knocked over a bottle of syrup, which caused Min to giggle a nervous, gallows laugh. As they cleaned up, they kept glancing at Lina apprehensively, like children in need of assurance. And then it clicked. She was the only one in the room who had destroyed Shabranigdu. She fumbled for something to say to them that would be inspiring, but the truth was her world had expanded so much since the last time she fought him. Then she only had to worry about her life and Gourry's. But now she had a handful of children and grandchildren to worry about as well. And, unlike when she had been a reckless fifteen-year-old, she now knew how devastating it was to experience loss. The words she needed to say were hard to find.

She took a deep breath to force the thoughts of all that she had to lose from her mind as she stood up and looked around the table. The muted whisperings ceased as everyone returned her stare, and once she was sure she had their attention she stated, "I want to say a few things before we leave. First, even with our firepower, we are going up against Shabranigdu. And if anyone wants to leave, now is your time to do it. No one will think less of you or think of you as a coward."

Lina looked at everyone steadily for a moment, but no one made a move to leave. She wasn't surprised. If anyone had had plans to leave they would have done it in the night. "Second thing, we're fighting because we know we can win this, not as a last ditch effort to fail to say that we at least tried. We can and will win this!" She noticed Min relax a little as Lina felt that the speech was coming into its stride, "But be smart about this. Know your limits and remember, I don't think any part of Nigel wants to see the world continue. Which means that this is going to be harder than killing Rezo Shabranigdu and Luke Shabranigdu. So don't get cocky and don't let your guard down!"

She let her gaze fall a bit longer on Attie, who had not had the time to fully gauge and test where her new abilities were and felt the most pressure to prove herself before she continued, "Meanwhile, if you can't promise me that you are going to make it back alive, then you need to leave now! I'm not going into battle with people who harbor a death wish. We're doing this to win and to survive! Got it?"

The tension seemed to ebb from the room a bit as people voiced agreement, and Lina smiled, satisfied that she had driven away the storm clouds for now. And then Orion asked, "So what's the plan?"

"Pair up." Lina said, "I want a strong fighter with a weaker one. And then stay together and form a circle when attacked so we can protect each other's backs. And then I want Nes, Sylphiel and Min to divide themselves among three groups so that someone who can cast a high level healing spell will be in close proximity when needed. Other than that, I have some tricks up my sleeve. Gourry and Min know about it. And all you and anyone in this room need to know is to stay out of my way. Any other questions?"

No one said anything. Lina took a deep breath as she wondered if she should let them know that she was not sure if she had killed Xellos or not, "There's one more thing. Stay alert, and watch out for enemies. Especially Tricksters." She smiled wryly, "It's hard to tell if I really nailed that bastard or not."

* * *

"Still need me to go over the Dragon Slave with you?" Lina asked Attie as they walked deeper into the woods.

"Min and I went over it last night. I'm good." She replied, "Though I haven't tested it. Something to try tonight?"

Lina smiled, glad to see that Attie was achieving her dreams after growing up and watching as Min mastered spells that were simply out of her league. "You gonna let me get any sleep?" Lina asked.

"You can sleep once we've survived all this!" Attie insisted.

"Something is approaching." Gourry said softly, and the group reacted as though they had been doused with water as conversation ceased and everyone strained their ears for warning signs of impending danger.

In the seconds that followed Lina could hear the shuffling of moving bodies through the forest before they came into view. She moved closer to the group as they fell into a close circle so that everyone's back was protected as their enemies came into view. Lina relaxed a little bit as she saw that it was just trolls even though her annoyance rose. They could have randomly happened upon them, or they could have been sent to deliberately wear them down. Lina braced herself and chanted for the Ragna Spear. Unlike the Ragna Blade which would quickly exhaust her magical capacity, she could use the Ragna Spear for hours and it would be effective against trolls. Down the circle she noticed Min hold her own spear of darkness, and then to the other side of the circle she noted that Attie's had ignited in her hands, causing her eyes to sparkle with anticipation as she eyed the trolls enthusiastically, and when the first one came into striking distance she wasted no time in making the first kill of the day.

They so overpowered the trolls it was almost embarrassingly easy. Rubia and Nes were both able to take down such large swaths of trolls that some people, such as Zelgadis and Sylphiel, had very little to do. On the plus side, it did give Attie time to get the feel for using Chaos Magic in combat before progressing to more powerful enemies. And it gave Lina time to observe Cass, an unknown quantity to her, in action.

"Fireball!" Cass yelled, and then she quickly started chanting as Orion released his own fireball, and Lina was impressed at how they had got the timing down so that one was spell casting as the other was chanting and vice versa, managing to constantly bombard the trolls with fireballs so that they couldn't even get close.

As for Lina herself, after they had learned about Dianna's curse she and Gourry had realized that they could never allow their skills to atrophy from disuse. They would always have to stay strong in preparation for the next battle. So stepping back into her warrior role felt natural, almost as though she was shedding the costume of domesticity that she had worn for so many years and returning to her natural state. Try as she had to dodge the burdens and the pain that came with being a hero, that aspect of her was not dead but in hibernation. And an exhilarating feeling of reunion ran through her as Gourry effortlessly cut down the trolls with the Blast Sword while Lina slashed at them with the Ragna Spear.

Suddenly a squeal pierced the air, and then chaos broke lose as a demon wandered into the battlefield and to Lina's surprise, the demon attacked a troll! She blinked, and wondered if she had seen it correctly when Nes attacked and vaporized the demon and several trolls along with him. But then more demons started to enter the scene, screaming hauntingly as they attacked trolls and humans without discrimination. And fortunately, there were more trolls than humans. The trolls with their stupid troll brains seemed frozen, as if unsure of what to make of this turn of events. The good news for Lina and the others was that this meant that the trolls stopped their attack, leaving them to only worry about the demons.

But as the demons grew more numerous, the trolls eventually started to fight back, and as Lina watched a sense of surrealism grew. _Never thought I'd see the day when I joined forces with a troll_. But then as she considered the implications fear gripped her.

"What's wrong with them?" Attie asked.

"Nigel must be near." Lina yelled, "Everyone, stay on guard, Nigel is close!"

"Huh?"

"Rubia is fighting for humanity, Nigel is fighting for destruction. It's confusing to the demons to have them in close proximity and they don't know how to react. So they're going insane and just lashing out, they don't care who they hit." Lina spelled out.

Rubia suddenly reached her hand out, stopping a dagger that had been thrown at her. She pulled the knife from her hand distastefully and flicked the blood from it. The others turned a little green as they saw how Rubia tolerated the injury, but Lina and Gourry had watched as Luke Shabranigu had endured worse with barely a flinch in one of his rages and knew what people like Rubia could tolerate. Meanwhile the demons and trolls parted ways, revealing that Nigel was indeed there and walking toward them. The fighting seemed to cease as he drew closer as glared at Rubia contemptuously, "There's little honor in poisoning your enemies." Nigel sneered.

Rubia nodded, "I can't argue with that."

Nigel shook his head as he looked at her, "I don't get it. I don't get why you are taking this path and not joining me."

"Because I don't want to see the world end." Rubia said.

"But why not, when you are so sad?"

"Who is to say that I won't be sad when it is destroyed? Or that I will enjoy the Sea of Chaos?" Rubia asked, "Besides, there's a beauty to sadness. And this world is what I know. And so many people I care about will be gone forever if it is destroyed."

"They're all going to die anyway." Nigel pointed out.

"I know." Rubia said, "And the struggle continues. And new friends come into my life. And so do new joys."

"Perhaps you never saw anything to this world because you never gave it a chance." Gourry interjected quietly.

"Why should I even do that?" Nigel replied.

"Because of all that you're missing. I know there is a part of you in there that is human and wants to see this world continue."

Nigel sneered, "Humans are weak."

"Weak people give up when things get hard." Lina said, "Tough people continue moving forward, even when it hurts. Sometimes we have to rest, but we keep moving forward."

Was it Lina's imagination, or did his aura start to soften?

"But I've messed things up so much already. I don't have any family left who would want anything to do with me!"

It was Nes' turn to join the conversation as he said, "You would be surprised at people's capacity to forgive. I was able to forgive my grandson for murdering my daughter when I saw that he was genuine in dedicating his life to changing his ways."

"And even if the wounds are too deep to be healed." Gourry added, "You can still move forward. There are things between me and some of my family members that can never be forgiven. I left them well enough alone, and focused on building a new family."

Sylphiel took a breath as she added, "I moved forward in a different way. My whole family and town was killed, and the person I would have liked to rebuild a new family with didn't return my feelings. My life did not turn out the way I had planned or envisioned it, but I still moved forward and found happiness in the community I had built. They are my family now."

"You three paint such a lovely picture of moving forward! But I know there were times you wanted to give up." Nigel fixed Gourry with a contemptuous stare, "You even wanted to fall on your sword at one point! You understand the desire for destruction!"

It was disarming how Nigel knew about their family secrets, likely through communicating with Shabranigdu and learning about Dianna's life. Lina felt her irritation bubble as Gourry tensed reflexively. But when Gourry spoke his voice was calm, "But because I had family and friends who cared, they brought me through it."

"No one ever cared about me!" Nigel persisted.

"That's not true." Lina snapped, "Gourry offered you sword lessons and help finding a job because he cares about every wayward youth he finds. He wanted to get you on a good path. And after you set your house on fire the whole damn town was organizing searches to look for you to make sure you were okay. People cared, you were just blind to it."

"That's the whole problem. You see me as a wayward youth and a quitter for desiring destruction, and not the genius who is going to usher in the return of the world to chaos!" Nigel said with a grin that sent chills down her spine. "To have accomplished all that I have at my age and to be so underestimated…"

"Accomplished?" Lina retorted, "Like multiple murders? Don't tell me that's what you're bragging about!"

"Oh, I'm a very accomplished murderer." Nigel said warningly. And then a sense of bloodlust rose sharply, followed by the sound of a Mazoku teleporting to the battle.

And then there was a bloodcurdling scream as Xellos struck Rubia, and it took Lina's mind a second to process that he had attacked her from the astral plane. Terror gripped Lina, as she wondered how Xellos could have had the power to defy his superior so, not to mention attack someone who was human from the astral plane, even if she did house Shabranigdu. While Lina's mind worked to process what had happened, Nigel wasted no time to move in and deliver the final, killing blow before anyone had a chance to intervene.

And then, just like that, the air changed, and the lesser demons and trolls looked at them hungrily as they aligned with Nigel, who looked at Lina disdainfully as he said, "I told you that you were wrong to underestimate me."

* * *

 **AN: 15 down, two more to go! We're on the homestretch.**


	16. Passing the Torch

Lina had little time to think as Nigel turned to face her, a murderous rage burning in his eyes. Gourry stepped up and attacked him with the Blast Sword. For anyone else Lina was sure it would be a killing blow, but Nigel took it and then pushed Gourry out of the way as he spread his arms and let magic pool around them, ignoring the gaping wound across his torso. From behind, Nes threw a spell at Nigel that didn't even slow him down as he released the spell while Lina chanted like she never had before as she realized that, unlike when Rezo Shabranigdu had been awakened, Nigel would not going to give her the time she needed to fight back by chanting spells, forget the means that Luke Shabranigdu had given them. Nigel was not underestimating her and he was fighting to win.

Nigel did not need time to chant, nor did he need to close the distance. In a matter of seconds he had fielded off two attacks and thrown a ball of lethal hot red energy at her! Lina did not have time to finish her spell, much less put up a protection barrier! Gourry somehow managed to get up and lunge between them, the Blast Sword cutting the spell, but barely. Yet rather than dissipating harmlessly like it usually did, the ball split around Gourry and then pulled back together behind him! "What!?" Gourry exclaimed as he turned to see it still heading for Lina.

A protection spell went up, and Lina wasn't sure if it was Sylphiel or Min who cast it. Still, the ball shattered the protection barrier as Lina tried, and failed, to jump out of its way, and then her world faded to black.

* * *

Tucked on the other side of the circle between Nes and Attie, Zelgadis was too busy dealing with the influx of trolls and demons to realize what was happening with Lina and the others, though he had a bad feeling that Rubia was dead. And as he was armed with the Sword of Absorption, he plenty of trouble on his hands. The sword was loaded with a Blast Ash spell, meaning he had one good use of it before the sword was useless unless one of the more powerful magic users either took the time to charge his sword again or he managed to catch a spell from a demon, because he sure as heck would not be able to from a troll! Meaning once the Blast Ash spell was gone, he would have to rely on brute strength and his now pitiful magical capabilities.

Fortunately Attie was pummeling them hard with the Ragna Spear and providing him some protection, and Orion and Cass beside her provided additional shielding from the side. Nes had been keeping things in check from his left, but Nes was now distracted by something that Zelgadis could not see, allowing a troll to get too close from Nes' side. Zelgadis released the Blast Ash spell and destroyed him, and then took a defensive stance, and focused on the knowledge that he would have to decapitate the next troll who came his way, when from down to his right he heard Min call for a protection spell before he felt the tail end of a gigantic blast that knocked him off his feet.

His ears were ringing as the dust cleared and he looked around to assess the damage. Attie slowly got up, looking stunned as she looked towards the direction of the blast, and then she started screaming, the sound disconcertingly distant in his ears as she ran to Nigel. Orion was knelt beside his mother, who looked as though she had suffered some burns even as she seemed cognizant enough to be casting a spell on herself while Cass looked over to where Nes and Sylphiel were kneeling over Lina and Gourry, and Zelgadis was able to deduce that they were the closest to the blast. Min's protection spell seemed to have softened the blow, Nes and Sylphiel would not be casting Resurrection spells otherwise, but had it been enough?

Zelgadis walked unsteadily, his balance affected by what he was sure were his ruptured ear drums, as Attie ran towards Nigel, but something strange was going on, something that, given the surrealism of having mostly lost his hearing, caused Zelgadis to wonder if he was unconscious and hallucinating. Namely, Nigel wasn't moving. He was frozen as though he were a statue. Meanwhile, the trolls and demons who had not been caught in the blast were similarly frozen as though awaiting orders. Zel wasn't sure what to make of it. Was it a trap? But why? All Nigel needed was to hit them with another spell like that one and they would be gone.

Attie launched a spell at Nigel, who did not defend himself as it hit him. Of course it wasn't enough to do him in, but Attie started chanting for another one as Zelgadis reached where Nes and Sylphiel were. Lina had born the worst of the blast this time, and he shook his head as he watched as Nes healed her. Gourry was unconscious but Zel was sure he would pull through under Sylphiel's care. He glanced down to where Rubia had been and finally was able to discern her remains among the ashes. There was no longer any hope for her. He didn't have the time to sort through his feelings as he looked back at Nes and Sylphiel and saw that both kept an eye on Nigel from out of the corner of their eyes, the shock evident on their faces as they watched as Attie threw spell after spell at him and he didn't so much as flinch.

"What's he doing?" Zelgadis said, or he thought he said. His voice sounded so distant and distorted that he wasn't sure if he was speaking correctly.

Nes said something, but Zelgadis couldn't hear what it was as Orion and Cass walked up and joined Attie, and started pelting the statuesque Nigel with spells. There was a logic to it. A small stream of water will eventually weather away a large mountain if given enough time. But they needed one of their big spell casters, either Lina or Min, back in action, especially as Attie's capabilities were untested. He looked back to where Min was still healing herself, and noted that she was looking better at least. Hopefully she could get back into the fight before Nigel roused. Leaving him to do what?

Zel looked at the demons and trolls, who looked as though they were waiting for orders. Then he walked over to where Gourry lay, still unconscious but stirring, and grabbed the Blast Sword. "I'll get this back to you as soon as I can." He said, and then he went and set about to the grisly task of decapitating trolls and killing demons.

* * *

 _Once more, Lina floated over her body as she watched the scene before her in confusion. "Why did he stop?" Lina asked Gourry, "He would have wiped us out easily. That was his plan, take out the strongest ones and then pick off the demoralized rest."_

 _"Yes." Dianna agreed as Lina felt her presence behind her, and unlike last time when Lina was scared to look at her for fear that she wouldn't return, Lina knew she was strong enough this time to do so. Still, her eyes welled when she saw Dianna, the person she had yearned to see most for the past seven years, and she rushed to embrace her and was soon joined by Gourry._

 _Lina took some time to savor the moment, even as she realized with a heavy hear that she did not have the time she craved to talk with her. The others were still in dangers. Beside her Gourry said, "We love you, we missed you so much."_

 _"I know." Dianna said, "Me too. That's why I've been able to stop him."_

 _Lina pulled away a little to look at her and stroke her hair, "What do you mean?"_

 _Dianna looked over at the scene of the battle as Gourry faded in and out of consciousness as his wounds healed. "Ceipheid knew what he was doing when he split Shabranigu's soul and forced it to be reincarnated endlessly into human hosts." She smiled wryly, "It may have taken more than a millennium for his plan to bear fruit, but if this continues his patience will pay off. We have indeed corrupted the soul of the Dark Lord."_

 _"I'm confused." Gourry stated plainly, and Dianna smiled at him wistfully, as though reflecting on how she had missed this._

 _"Shabranigdu has lived many lifetimes as a human now. Before, when he was a Mazoku he never had the experience of having parents and siblings and people he loved and who loved him in return. He never experienced the joys of this world, and only focused on what he hated about it and destroying it. Living many lifetimes as a human has broadened his perspective, and he has been changed on a fundamental level. He has now experienced the love a child has for his parents, as well as the love a parent has for their child. And in addition to all of the lifetimes he recalls, he remembers my life and my feelings for you, and a part of me and of all of his hosts live within him."_

 _Gourry suddenly grabbed her hands, "Good bye." He said as he faded from the scene and woke up on the battlefield below._

 _Dianna closed her eyes in grief for a moment and collected herself before she continued, "With a host like Charlie it would have been easier for me. It's complex, because Shabranigdu both has an individual consciousness based on the history of each shard and then a grand unified consciousness, but to simplify it, I have more power over Charlie than someone like Nigel or Rubia because Charlie and I share a shard. But because of the grand unified consciousness, well, it took me awhile, but I finally broke through his into Nigel's consciousness enough to do this. Something about seeing the two of you go down like that unleashed a torrent of grief strong enough for me to paralyze him and to order him to tell his minions to stand down. I'm sorry I couldn't do it before you got hit, Mom."_

 _"It's okay." Lina said as she wrapped her arms around her as they watched as Nes continued to heal her while Attie, Orion and Cass lobbed spell after spell at Nigel. Meanwhile, Gourry had gotten up and was getting his sword back from Zelgadis, who had done a good job of felling their enemies, as Min got up and started to walk towards Nigel to rejoin the fight._

 _"I hope it's enough." Dianna continued, "Because I'm not sure how much longer I can keep him like this. He's fighting me for control!"_

 _"We won't let this go to waste." Lina said as she felt herself start to fade, "We never got to say goodbye."_

 _"Goodbye is too sad, Mom. Till next time. Our paths will cross again." Dianna said as she smiled in her coy manner. "Tell Attie I'll won't let any harm befall her."_

 _"Huh?" Lina said, but before she could ask what Dianna meant, she felt herself being pulled back into her body._

* * *

Lina opened her eyes and saw Nes kneeling over her as Gourry came up to them, the Blast Sword in his hand and relief spreading through his features as he saw that she was allright. "We talked to her." Lina stated simply to him.

"We did." He agreed as he grabbed her hand to help her up.

"Talked to who?" Nes asked as he stood.

"Later," Lina said as she assessed the situation. Zel had felled a lot of the trolls and demons, but it also would make maneuverability a logistics nightmare. "Min, Attie, it's time. Everyone else, fall back!"

But Min and Attie were already joining hands and chanting and as Lina went over to join them, the others fell back with the exception of Cass and Orion, "What can we do?"

"Throw the highest level spell you can at him." Lina said.

Nigel started to move then, slowly, almost as though he were breaking through a set of invisible chains as he screamed, "Let me go you bitch!"

"Everyone get to high ground!" Lina yelled as she grabbed Gourry and started chanting a levitation spell, reflecting in frustration that Min had not even had the time to finish her spell.

She and the others rose into the air just as Nigel unleashed a circle of fire below them, the flames licking their feet as it caught the surrounding trees on fire as they soared into the air. Of course, up in the air like this Lina couldn't exactly chant the big spell she needed while maintaining levitation as she held onto Gourry. Nigel flew into the air to join them and was unencumbered with such difficulties as he released another attack, and it was all everyone could do to dodge. Nes, in his dragon form, flew in to attack Nigel, but it did little other than attract Nigel's attention as he sneered derisively and shot back at Nes, who couldn't dodge in time and took the spell full on. Lina felt her heart jump in her throat as she saw the golden dragon go down, but aside from noting that Sylphiel was following him she couldn't tell how badly hurt he was.

Nigel once more turned his attention back to Lina, and she wondered how she could get back on better footing to fight him as, from the west, she saw Attie approach, holding Min as they levitated towards Nigel. From the east Orion was similarly holding Cass as she chanted. A sense of calmness suddenly descended upon Lina as the realization came that it was no longer down to her. She had raised her children and grandchildren for this day. While she hadn't consciously thought of passing on her torch, she realized it was time that she did so, and to make room for another generation build their own legacy. She watched with a sense of pride as Min called, "Giga Slave!"

It had taken Lina and her team years to perfect the spell, to walk that tightrope between assuring it was powerful enough to damage a being like Shabranigdu yet also weak enough that it wouldn't go out of control or summon the Lord of Nightmares. And then it took even longer to figure out a spell that would allow them to combine two sorcerer's bucket capacities so that a human could have a large enough capacity to cast it. But Lina could see the white aura of magic around Attie and Min as they were joined together to increase Min's already large bucket capacity, to the point she needed to get it one level below the full summoning spell.

But even then, Lina feared it would not be enough. Nigel cried out as the spell hit him full on, and the scream intensified as Cass hit him with another Ra Tilt. Nigel fell to the earth, obviously wounded but still clinging to life.

Lina lowered herself and Gourry to the ground, fortunately away from the burning forest, though, if the winds changed Lina was mindful of the fact that they would be in trouble. As soon as they landed Lina started chanting as Min, Attie, Zel, Orion and Cass circled around Nigel cautiously as he took deep, ragged breaths with a manic, ragged look in his eyes. "Where are you Beastmaster?" he cried as he released another wave of deadly energy.

This time Min's protective spell held good and protected them. Nigel rose as he prepared himself for another attack as Xellos appeared. Lina's fear spiked as Xellos said, "I am here, Master."

"And you do nothing." Nigel stated accusingly as Lina noticed a hint of white tinging his hair.

Xellos was quiet as he stared at him dispassionately as Nigel started to crumble into grey ash. It had taken awhile, but the spells had done their damage. "It's not fair!" Nigel whined, "If it weren't for Dianna…"

"Dianna?" Min asked sharply as Nigel continued to crumble and then drift away into the wind.

Lina took a deep breath and looked at Xellos. "So why didn't you butt in?"

"I suspect you know why." he said.

"You wanted us to do your dirty work for you." Lina stated even as she kept her guard up.

"I'm confused." Gourry said as Lina shook her head.

"Xellos wanted to dispose of both Rubia and Nigel and return to only serving one master, the Demon Lord of the North."

"But why?" Attie asked.

"Goes back to what Vincent was saying, doesn't it?" Min said as she started to catch on, "Serving too many masters was causing too much division among the Mazoku and weakening them, even when their goals were the same."

"Correct." Xellos said distastefully, as though he was not proud of what he had done.

"So he made a temporary alliance with Nigel until he could kill Rubia, and then he did nothing to help Nigel and let us do the dirty work." Lina explained as another thought crossed her mind. "So I guess the other hosts are safe only as long as they steer clear of you."

"If even that long." Xellos said ominously. "I'd like to say that it has been fun. But I must be going. Till we meet again."

"May it be a long time from now." Lina said as she held Gourry's hand as Xellos disappeared and she allowed herself to relax. Then she glanced over at her children and grandson who looked around hesitantly before the dam broke and they started to run to each other for hugs. "I am so proud of all of you."

"I wasn't sure I had it in me." Min said, still sounding shaky, before she went over and wrapped her arms around Orion. "Is this really over?"

"As much as this ever is over." Lina said as she noticed how Attie was leaning against Zel, who wrapped an arm around her. When had they made up? Meanwhile Gourry stared off at the distance. "What is it?" she asked.

But then Sylphiel came through the trees, walking beside Nes, and Lina breathed a sigh of relief as Gourry ran up to hug him, followed by Min, Attie and Orion. Lina walked up more slowly with Cass and Zelgadis as Min and Attie told Nes excitedly about how they had taken Nigel down.

"What are we going to do for Rubia?" Cass asked, momentarily dampening the mood. Considering their enemy, one casualty was an accomplishment. But still.

"The only thing we can do." Lina said, "Give her a proper burial."

Gourry wrapped an arm around his wife as she approached, "For once someone stole your thunder." He said as he looked at their daughters with pride beaming in his eyes.

Lina smiled, realizing that if it was anyone other than her descendants who had just pulled this off she would feel a bit miffed. But the jealousy she felt to the accomplishments of other people was absent when it came to her children. Besides, she was older and more tired now. "It was time to pass the torch and share the responsibility."

* * *

 **AN: Stayed tuned for the Epilogue, hopefully I'll get it up later in the week.**


	17. Epilogue

It was late by the time they got back to Rubia's mansion, and everyone was tired from the day's events. Still, Lina was not going to pass up the opportunity for one last bath before hitting the road and returning to Saillune, even if she was exhausted. When they got to their room, Gourry looked at Lina and said, "We have some amazing children."

"We do, don't we." Lina agreed as she walked into the bathroom to start to fill the tub.

"Of course, they have an amazing mother." He said as he went up and hugged her from behind.

Lina laughed a little and reflected that as they'd not been intimate when she had been actively taking down Mazoku, they'd rarely had occasions to enjoy victory cuddles. For a moment she entertained the idea of going back on the road with him again after Luke grew up, but was grounded as she remembered his ailing health, "Well, their father is rather amazing himself, even if he is an idiot."

He was quiet for a moment as he kissed the crown of her head, "I knew I was going to marry you the first time that you defeated him. I never doubted that decision, and especially after today I can look back and say we did right. Even Di was able to help us from beyond the grave. Not many other people could have done what we have together."

Lina turned around and looked at him, feeling a mix of emotions, "In some ways it helps with the pain of losing her. To know she still exists in some fashion and can still influence this world, and for the better. But Gourry, don't talk as though this is over yet. We still have plenty of adventures ahead."

She reached out to stroke his cheek as he smiled in a bittersweet way, but before he could say something, someone knocked, and Lina groaned a bit as she turned the water off and they walked back into their room. "Come in."

Zelgadis walked in and closed the door behind him, looking a little pensive, "Hey, sorry to bother you two so late."

"What's up?" Gourry said as he sat on the edge of the bed and Lina sat down beside him.

Zel fidgeted nervously as he exhaled, "I know things have been a bit rocky with us since we met up again, given how I reacted to Dianna and the circumstances of her death. Because of that I wanted to check in first, because I don't want to get between Attie and the two of you."

Lina and Gourry looked at each other in mild surprise. Zel and Attie's up and down relationship had been so full of twists and turns that they weren't sure where they stood with each other. Add to the fact that Lina couldn't get Attie to talk to her about it, she was stumped. Meanwhile, Gourry said, "We wouldn't either. We haven't always approved of our daughter's romantic decisions, but if they are mistakes, then they are their mistakes to make. I mean, we did not agree with Di's decision to marry Kenneth, but we didn't try to stop her and we didn't let it get between us."

Zelgadis relaxed a little, "I hope in this case it isn't a mistake, and that you won't think it is a mistake."

"Are you two planning to get married?" Lina asked point blank.

"I haven't formally asked her yet, but I would say it's understood." Zelgadis smiled nervously, "I may be overconfident. I just would like your blessing before I do."

Gourry looked at Lina, who was stone faced, and grabbed her hand before smiling at Zelgadis, "Of course. It would be good to have you as part of the family."

"But know that I will beat you black and blue if you hurt her." Lina added.

Zelgadis laughed a little, "I wouldn't expect anything less. Thank you."

He left, and Lina started to take off her clothes to prepare for her bath. "Well we may finally see our late bloomer down the aisle." She said contemplatively. "Talk about strange places. I never thought Zel would have married one of our daughters."

"Well, considering my great-grandfather looks several decades younger than me, nothing really surprises me anymore." Gourry said. "But in this case, it is a good surprise, isn't it?"

Lina thought for a moment before she conceded, "I guess he'll make a good addition to the family."

* * *

Zel felt as though he had cleared a big hurdle as walked into the room he was now sharing with Attie, who was rubbing lotion on her scars, looking exhausted but pensive. While he was sure Gourry would be supportive, Lina was more of a wild card. Yet Lina was downright predictable compared to her daughter, whose mood Zelgadis was currently trying to ascertain. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Good." She said, though the exhilaration she had felt in the wake of Nigel's defeat was gone, and he could sense that there was a lot that she wasn't saying.

"What is it?" he asked.

She smiled as she worked to put her thoughts into words. "It's just, I spent a lifetime working hard to get to this point. To know where the hosts are and to have taken down some big Mazoku. And now we know where Charlie is, and it's going to be nine months or more until we have to worry about the other hosts, and it just hit me that I've never really planned for what comes next."

Zelgadis took a moment as he realized that the conversation ahead was filled with potential fireballs as he said, "Sounds like me after I found my cure. But someone once told me that talented people never want for work for long, and she was right. Soon after I found myself on the lecture circuit about my cure."

"You think I'm talented?" she asked flirtingly.

"Min may have dealt the killing blow, but I know you were the brains behind the strategy." He said.

"And I thought no one had noticed. But yes, it was Min's power and my strategy, and I thought perhaps it wouldn't be enough, but strangely it is. I guess there's always the next big villain. But after today, that just seems like it would get to be a hollow thrill after a while. I can see why Mom threw the towel in after doing it twice. It's like she always said, it sounds so noble and heroic and dramatic until you're actually there, making the hard choices, watching people die or get injured. We're so lucky we didn't lose Nes and my parents. And now that I've done it, I'm not sure I want to do it again." She kicked her legs as she leaned back a bit, "But who knows how I'll feel about it in the morning."

"So still no interest in settling down?" he asked quietly.

She stiffened a bit, indicating that he was venturing into dangerous waters. "Well, there are going to be families soon that need help, especially if Xellos and the other Mazoku decide to target the hosts. So I can always go back to tracking them down again, only goodness knows what I will do with myself for nine months."

She was silent for a moment before she continued, "When you've lived on the road as long as I have, well, I just can't imagine staying in one place. I may have taken this path to avoid fulfilling the prophecy, but I can't say it doesn't suit me. I'm not smart like Mom and Min and would be horrible at research, though I guess I could teach at the guild. Then I could be around children, and send them home to their parents when they get to be too annoying. It's a thought if I ever had to stop traveling for some reason, but I can't say it holds that much appeal. Or perhaps it's like you said, the next thing could be waiting in the wings to surprise me."

"Well, whatever is in the future, I'd like to be beside you." He said as he handed her a small box.

Attie's eyes widened in surprise. Slowly she picked it up and opened it and stared for a moment at the bracelets that she found within. "Zel…" she said.

"I'm serious about us."

"But what about what you want?"

"I want to be with you. Look, I've tried my hand at a lot of things, Attie. I'm a lot older than you, remember. Wherever you go and whatever you do, I can find something to do and adapt myself to. As long as you are with me it will be fine."

Attie pulled one of the bracelets out, which held a diamond suspended on a gold chain, "I don't know that I've ever worn something so pretty."

"Are you ready to try something knew then?"

Attie smiled a little as she wiped her eyes, "Yes."

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was a much lighter affair than it had been the previous day as people congratulated Zel and Attie and talked about their upcoming plans. Once the meal was finished people started preparing to go their separate ways. Nes was going back to the Kataart Mountains, and Attie decided to return with her parents and Min to Saillune for the time being. Meanwhile, Sylphiel had hired Orion and Cass to escort her home to Sairaag.

"Have a safe trip." Min said as she hugged Orion and then Cass, "Take care of each other."

"We will." Orion said. "Say hi to Dad and my brothers."

"I will." Min said.

"I'm just so excited to see the Sairaag." Cass said as Sylphiel came up beside her.

"Are you ready?" the priestess asked.

"We're ready." Cass said.

Min smiled, and then she looked at Sylphiel. "Forgive me if this is too personal, but whoever didn't return your feelings must have been crazy. Even now you look like you could have any man your heart desired."

Sylphiel chuckled a little as she considered that at one time Min's words would have cut, "He wasn't crazy, actually. I just couldn't compete with your mother."

"What?" Min and Orion exclaimed at the same time.

"You mean you had a crush on my father?" Min asked, a bit taken aback.

Sylphiel nodded, "It hurt for a while, but it wasn't meant to be. And I see why now. If I had settled with your father I never would have been able to rebuild Sairaag. And we wouldn't have been able to handle the burdens that Ceiphied placed on your family. I was able to reach my full potential this way, and so were your parents, and in both of our cases, the world benefitted more. I'm at peace with how things unfolded, more so than at any other time of my life really."

Min and Orion exchanged a shocked glance, and then Min said, "I'm glad that you've reached this point. It was good to meet you and work with you. Take care."

Sylphiel nodded and patted her hand, "You, too. And best wishes."

* * *

After spending so much time battling demons on the trip to Atlas City, the trip to Saillune was blissfully uneventful, save for one meeting. And when Lina did spy Luna on the road to Saillune with Charlie, it did not come as a shock. If anything, it would have surprised Lina if their paths hadn't intercepted again. Luna watched them quietly as they approached as Lina met her gaze steadily, not betraying a hint of what she was thinking. When Lina did reach her, she quietly leaned forward and gave her a hug, noting how Luna relaxed beneath her arms as she did. "Am I forgiven then?" Luna asked.

"Life is too short for grudges." Lina replied, her voice slightly swollen as she pulled away.

Luna nodded, "I take it by the decrease in demon activity that you were successful."

"In a manner of speaking." Lina said. "Walk with us."

Lina related their adventures, with plenty of interruptions from her daughters, as they walked. "So that's where things are. Of course, the danger now is more of keeping Charlie and the other hosts safe from the Mazoku then worry over whether Charlie will destroy the world."

"Keeping Charlie safe is one of your goals now?" Luna asked

Lina closed her eyes as a wave of pain washed over her, and then she knelt down and looked Charlie in the eyes, scanning them for any trace of Dianna. Charlie looked nervously at Luna, and then returned her stare. Finally she said, "It's not your fault that your father is a prick. And make sure you tell him I said that."

Charlie's eyes widened, and Lina stood up, "I guess you'd better get him home."

"That is where we're headed." Luna replied. "Take care."

After they had said their goodbyes and split up, Gourry wrapped an arm around her. "You did the right thing." He said quietly.

"It doesn't mean it doesn't sting like hell." Lina said.

* * *

It was late in the day, but the castle was in view and they were sure they would reach it before sunset. Even better was when they got to the castle and saw Pomona with a young man in the palace gardens. "You're back!" she cried as she ran up and threw her arms around her parents.

"We are." Lina said as Pomona broke away too soon to hug her sisters, stopping when she saw Attie.

"Oh my goodness, what happened?" Pomona asked as she gently touched her cheek.

"A bad burn spell." Attie explained, "It's okay, I'm stronger now. Literally. Nes had to make me a new arm and it boosted my fire power!"

Attie held her arm out and Pomona shrieked when she saw her bracelet, "You're engaged! And you saw Nes? Where is he?"

"He went home, but he'll be back for the wedding." Attie said as she wrapped an arm around Zelgadis.

"Congrats!" Pomona said as she hugged them both, "Oh the bracelet is so beautiful! I can't wait to get one someday. Oh, Attie, you'll have to let me do your make up on the big day!"

"I'll hold her down while you apply." Min said conspiratorially.

"Oh, no, please." Attie said.

"Who's your friend?" Lina asked, coming to Attie's rescue for the moment.

"Oh," Pomona said as she looked at the boy, who appeared slightly older than her, in an uncharacteristically dismissive manner that baffled Lina, "This is just Forest, he's the son of the apothecary I'm apprenticed to. We've been planting some herbs to experiment with. We think we're on to something, but we're not ready for trials yet."

"Keep working on it." Lina said as she looked at Gourry.

"Can you tell your mom I'll be eating with my family tonight?" Pomona asked.

"Sure." Forest said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Pomona waved, and then she tangled her arms around her parents as they set off for the castle. "How's Luke?" Lina asked.

"He's fine. They say he has a good career ahead of him as a swordsman!"

Lina smiled a little, "In other words, not a drop of magic."

"Nope. But Stella has a high capacity. She's training to be a priestess now."

"That's good to know." Gourry said.

They talked amiably as they caught up as they entered the palace and made their way to Min's apartments. Her husband was sitting down for dinner with Luke and their younger sons when they came in and, after an enthusiastic greeting, they all managed so somehow cram together around the table to eat. "So, where is everyone going from here?" Min asked.

"Well," Pomona said hesitantly, "I've decided it's best for me to stay in Saillune and continue my studies."

"Of course." Gourry said encouragingly.

"On that note," Lina said, "We're going to go back and see what we can salvage of the cottage, and then we're going to sell it, and move to the capital."

"Really?" Min exclaimed, "But I'd thought you didn't want to be so close to the action."

"Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?" Lina said as she looked at Gourry, "But we're getting older and we're going to need to be closer just for the medical advances for one thing. And for another it's something Dianna said when I last talked to her. Staying in the thick of it is how Gourry and I can stay connected with her. So now I have more reason than ever to do that. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that this world still needs my skills, and that there are reasons for this world to keep on going. So I can't stay in the shadows anymore."

Gourry squeezed her knee as the others commented encouragingly as they looked around the table, tightly packed with their children and grandchildren. The pain over the one they had lost would always be there but, after seven years, Lina felt as though she was finally learning to live with it without letting the rage and grief consume her. And while she would never get Dianna back fully, she now had a path forward to walk to ensure that she had not died in vain.

* * *

 **AN: Thanks for reading! And thanks to those who commented and left feedback, especially because I did not think this one would generate much interest and was reluctant to write it for that reason. It did help. I have one more oneshot for this series, not sure when I'll get around to writing it though. heck, the only reason I wrote this behemoth was to provide the backstory for that oneshot, so it will be forthcoming.**


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